The Chills - Snowbound

The Chills are a legendary New Zealand Jangle Pop and Indie Rock band who have been at it now since the late 1980's.  While they had some early releases like "Brave Worlds", I really got into their stuff with 1990's "Submarine Bells".  This was a very upbeat, light, airy but often dark underneath album filled with Pop Hooks and incredible attention to detail.  Tracks like "Heavenly Pop Hit", "I Soar", and "Familiarity Breeds Contempt" summed up the early Indie Pop sound so much.  Hell, I even loved some of the Celtic and World Music influences that popped up here.  If you're new to The Chills, consider this your place to start.  The Chills returned in 1992 with their "Soft Bomb" album, which is a totally fine follow up album.  It may not be as immediate as it's predecessor.  But it showed that the band could write timeless tracks effortlessly, like "The Male Monster From The Id" and "Ocean Ocean".  After that, I sort of lost touch with The Chills for a while.  I never got around to listening to "Sunburnt", or any of the solo projects that came out of The Chills.  But I did check out their last album, 2015's "Silver Bullets'.  Which honestly, really isn't that bad of an album.  The Chills in general sound a whole lot older and less Jangly, but it's still decent.  Well, The Chills are back for their first album in a few years, not sounding too terrible.

This album starts off with “Bad Sugar”, and I actually really love just how shimmering this track is as an intro.  It’s obviously got some very modern, pristine production.  However, I do have to say I feel like I actually haven’t heard The Chills with this much of a spring in their step in ages.  I’m glad to hear it though, it makes me happy.  Obviously, it’s not as energetic as some of their early material.  But man, this is a very sweet Power Pop tune, which I haven’t heard enough of this year.   So yea, these vocals aren't as flattering as they once were, but this is still a great intro.  “Time to Atone” isn’t as energetic, and it comes off a little bluesy with these worn out guitars.  But in situations like this, this sadly isn’t as flattering.  The Chills aren’t the charming band they once were, and aren’t nearly as youthful. But in times like this, they come off like they’ve aged so much more.  However, I’ll be damned if they don’t at the very least come through with a genuinely fantastic chorus which saves this one.  This also does have a playfulness to it that I just can’t deny.  But so much of this one just doesn’t sound like The Chills.  Then we have “The Greatest Guide”, which is a sort of throwback Alternative Rock sound that sounds like it would have done nicely in the early 90’s.  But honestly, it comes off really tasteful.  We’re still in the realm of this very pristine production.  But the sort of spiritual, storytelling aspects of this one actually adds a ton.  This one has this fantastic wintery vibe to it as well.  It’s really fantastic and sweet, and I just can’t help but get all swept up in this.  It’s a lovely, catchy Jangle Pop tune.  “Scarred” is yet another serious throwback to the early days of The Chills.  It dives deep in the Jangle Pop and Power Pop direction.  And for the most part, it’s a solid tune.  It has a great, carefree vibe to this one, as well as the vocal performances we get from Martin Philipps which may be some of his best here.  But, there are also some really cheesy synths that I just feel like don’t come off too well.  And I do like the lyrics here, but there are so much more memorable ones on the rest of this album.  But still, “Scarred” is once again undeniably catchy. 

On the other hand, “Complex” is one of the most modern tracks here, with these very soaring synths as well as some of the most intense instrumentals of the bunch.  Now, let’s start off with the good.  This album by this point does need to speed up a little and we were overdue for an upbeat track, which this is.  And as far as a wakeup call goes, this certainly does wonders for the band.  But if anyone is going to tell me this is a Chills track, I’m just not buying it.  It’s just so flashy, and not what I’ve come to love from The Chills.  And there are elements I do really love, like that very wild and intense breakdown which seems directly from their early years.  I just wish the rest of this track wasn’t a complete selling out.  The production on this album by this point is catching up to me, and fast.  At first, I really didn’t think it was anything to bitch about.  But it really does take a lot of tracks that would have been totally fine and takes them down a notch.  Like, I really love the very classy, elegant style of “Deep Belief”.  The instrumentals are actually an interesting change of pace, form the more Jazzy styles to the more Jangly ones.  But the production here is just so pristine that it comes off as practically fake.  I do really dig a lot about this tune, but I wish I could have dug it even more.  Now, “Lord Of All I Survey”, may just be my favorite track of the bunch.  It still sounds very polished from a production stance, but at the very least this one seems to have some teeth to it.  It’s got some big guitars, and lyrically this really does seem to be the closest thing to the classic Chills sound.  It’s also just so big and epic and has a sense of elegance to it once again.  It’s a refined tune, but one that’s so positive and hard not to get swept up in completely.  And vocally, here Martin doesn’t sound like he’s missed a step.  But with tracks like “Snow Bound”, I get the feeling that The Chills motives have gotten so muddled.  It’s a sweet track with plenty of Jangle-Pop elements, and the synths here are some of the more immediate and catchy of the bunch.  But the production here is soooooo incredibly clean that we’re once again going for a much more modern sound.  And while the original Chills sound IS in there, you have to do a whole lot of digging.  The vocals are fine, the lyrics are solid, but it all has this very glossy sound to it that’s just not for me. 

On the other hand, “Easy Peazy” I feel like I have all the opposite problems with.  Here, I actually really dig the very elegant instrumental.  But overall, I feel like this was thrown together in 5 minutes.  Some of the instrumentals are beautiful and excite the hell out of me.  But lyrically, I feel like this is amateur hour.  Literally every other track here, even in moments where I haven’t been into certain aspects I’ve been able to latch on too some lyrics.  But here, this track just isn’t good.  Now, earlier The Chills went for a more upbeat track and I was indifferent.  And while I’m still not into some of the lyrics on “In Harmony”, this is a much more intriguing and likable upbeat tune all around.  It’s swirling, upbeat, and has some great Pop elements while sticking to what the band knows.  Not to mention, once again, that sort of breakdown we get is absolutely furious, and The Chills do seem to play to that World Music influence side fo theirs that I’ve always loved.  This is decent. 

Rating: 7.2/10

Give A Listen To: “Bad Sugar”, “The Greatest Guide”, “Deep Belief”, “Lord of All I Survey”

Least Favorite Track: “Easy Peazy”

Genre: Jangle Pop / Power Pop / Indie Pop

Overall Thoughts:  This is probably the best sound we’re going to get from The Chills in 2018.  This album isn’t terrible, and it has some of the better track from The Chills in years.  But there’s still a lot of very suspect elements to this, and it always seems to be one thing or another.  There will be totally compelling tracks lyrically and vocally which are muddled by clean production and upbeat and exciting tracks that are brought down a peg by poor songwriting.  It’s messy at times, and it’s not even close to perfect.  But the legendary sound of The Chills does show up from time to time, and when it does, it’s good.