The Chills Scatterbrain LP (Blue Vinyl)

New studio album from the Dunedin (NZ) songsmiths helmed by the enigmatic Martin Phillipps with artwork by Trees' David Costa.

Dunedin's finest, The Chills release their seventh studio album Scatterbrain, a glorious self-examination of Martin Phillipps's songwriting hot (ish) on the heels of the hugely successful Snowbound (2018) and the critically-acclaimed movie The Chills: The Triumph And Tragedy Of Martin Phillipps a year later.

Now in 2021, Phillipps is now taking stock of things - everything. Yes, everything. The result is this triumphant new Chills' album Scatterbrain, a thought-provoking and evocative take from a man who has lived through good times and bad.

A mature and honest reflection on life, destiny and the fate of our times delivered in beautiful melodies with Phillipps's trademarked incisive turn of phrase.

Viewed from the perspective of a man understanding his age and indeed his own mortality, the new album takes a mature look at matters arising with a side order of perspective.

Scatterbrain is a life passing before your ears as uncertainty increases and fake news rumbles on; during which aliens invade, Phillipps scales the walls beyond abandon as he probes the minutiae of worlds within worlds and the hourglass fills.

A landmark album from one of the great modern song writers, it's pure pop music for the new normal and we can't wait to see how it ends...

The existence of the third new album from The Chills in six years feels like a quiet miracle. Band leader Martin Phillipps has been through a few circles of hell, owing to drug issues and a Hepatitis C diagnosis. Back on solid ground, he's writing perhaps his best work yet, and, on the recently released Scatterbrain, using his lyrics to take stock of the years he has left. The fog of mortality hangs over each song, but it never feels enveloping or blinding. Even when the music becomes downcast, Phillipps' viewpoint is one of quiet acceptance of his eventual date with the unknown. The highlights of the album arrive when he applies those lyrics to upbeat and punchy tunes, like the swirling 'Worlds Within Worlds' and the triumphal closer 'Walls Beyond Abandon.' It brings a delightful dissonance to the work that calls back to The Chills' amazing '80s run. Phillipps may be thinking about life's end, but it's work like Scatterbrain that will make him immortal.