Farewell work from New Zealand’s pop icon, which is based on almost 40 years old material.
The final song of this double LP is entitled “I Don’t Want to Live Forever”, but it should have been a little longer: Martin Phillipps died on July 28, 2024, he was only 61. Even this age appears like a miracle after severe drug abuse. It’s great that the singer/songwriter from Wellington was able to experience a very special honor, because in 2021 an asteroid was given the name (49291) THechills. Captain Phillipps now flies through the main belt. Also nice that on earth he still managed to organize his musical estate.
Spring Board is his legacy, a look back very far, on very dark but also very bright times. In the creative high phase of chills with albums such as Brave Words and especially Kaleidoscope World, other songs were created, but they did not make it until completion. It should not have been easy to reconstruct these fragments dusty on cassettes after almost four decades.
Anyone who hopes that The Chills also conjure up songs of the quality class “Pink Frost” or “Rolling Moon” will be a little disappointed. Nevertheless: With the stable crew of recent years, guests like Neil Finn (crowded house/split enz) and musicians of local bands conjured up Phillipps from the historical ash irresistible up-beat pop. A worthy departure.
You can find out which albums were published in February 2025 via our monthly publication list.