The Clean have always been an on-again, off-again band. Their future is still up in the air — will they succeed? Will they become famous? Luckily for guitarist David Kilgour, he’s had a back-up plan these last 20-30 years. You can never tell if a band’s going to make it big or not (have you ever heard “Tally Ho”?), so during The Clean’s ‘off’ years, Kilgour has made his name as a reputable solo musician from New Zealand (probably playing, I don’t know, a pop take on traditional Maori music or something).
In keeping with the tradition, while The Clean worked together to release Mister Pop (TMT Review) in 2009, Kilgour took a break from his solo work and made the rounds, touring and being a team player for Merge (who have released The Clean’s and Kilgour’s material for years now). Now that The Clean have had their intermittent day in the sun again, Kilgour is back with another solo album with The Heavy Eights: Left By Soft, out on Merge April 26.
Kilgour himself says, “To me, it sounds like the band on a good night, warts and all… It’s probably the first real ‘band’ LP I’ve made since Frozen Orange [Merge, 2004] or the David Kilgour and The Heavy 8’s LP from the mid ’90s [Flying Nun,1997].” Now, don’t take this the wrong way, but if that doesn’t sound like an “I’m old, I’m not dead yet” proclamation, I don’t know what does. At any rate, David, we’re glad you’re around, “warts and all!”
Left By Soft tracklisting:
01. Left By Soft
02. Way Down Here
03. A Break in the Weather
04. Steel Arrow
05. Pop Song
06. Autumn Sun
07. Theme
08. Diamond Mine
09. I’ll Climb Back Up That Hill
10. Could Be on My Way
11. Purple Balloon
• David Kilgour: http://www.davidkilgour.com
• Merge: http://www.mergerecords.com
