Spring Board: The Early Unrecorded Songs was a passion project by The Chills late frontman, Martin Phillipps. Photo: Jon Thom
The Chills' final album Spring Board: The Early Unrecorded Songs was late frontman Martin Phillipps' mission to render his songs as he originally "heard them in his head," the band's manager Scott Muir said.
The album, released Friday, was a passion project for Phillipps, who before his death in July 2024 at age 61 collaborated with his bandmates Oli Wilson, Erica Scally, Callum Hampton, and Todd Knudson to bring these early compositions to life.
The album also features contributions from notable New Zealand artists, including Neil Finn of Crowded House, Julia Deans of Fur Patrol, Hollie Fullbrook of Tiny Ruins, and others.
Phillipps started to think about re-visiting his earlier, unreleased compositions in 2020, Muir told RNZ's Music 101.
"As far back as July 2020, we started discussing Springboard with Fire Records. He wanted reimagined works of a younger Martin he built on some rudimentary, song structures that were quite good, and he wanted to enhance them with his current band, who were really good and a good producer in Tom Healy, somebody could trust and enjoy working with.
"So, the final outcome would be, as he said, as close to where he heard them in his head as possible."
Phillipps didn't see Spring Board as a swan song when it was first conceived, Muir said, and then his health took a turn for the worse last year.
"The recordings all happened between September and December 2023, and in October he had a short stay in hospital.
"And then around January last year, he started discussing with us his concerns around his long-term health and that he didn't think that international touring would be a likelihood. He was always aware of his mortality. It was always something that he was very aware of.
"He went through really good periods and really bad periods, and we've ended up where we are today."
The guest appearances on the album were from musicians he had a genuine connection to, Muir said.
"He just wanted people he really respected and loved and enjoyed their music, to be part of what he was doing. It was really important to him that he connected with those people personally as well.
"It wasn't just about 'will you sing a song for me?' It was, you know, 'I loved '1905' so it'd be great to have Shona [Laing] play on this'. So, she did."
There was "gold to be mined" in Phillipps's back catalogue, Muir said.
"He had an amazing lyrical brain. He could subtly change something from a you to a they and it would change the entire tenor of the song.
"And that's what I feel often gets overlooked when people are hearing the music, as opposed to really listening to it, just hearing them, great song, that's nice, but there's gold to be mined in what he was saying over these charming or delightful melodies that were there."
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