Search - Martin Phillips, Chills :: Sunburnt

Worth another .5 on top of that

Davy | Athens, GA | 08/02/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"my least favorite proper chills album, and, predictably, their most recent. what sealed this album's fate were immigration laws. the kiwi band prepared to record this album in england, but when they arrived, everyone in the band except for martin phillipps was turned away for having screwed up visas, etc. so martin went to london, hired some session musicians--admittedly very good ones--and made it himself, which makes it less a chills album than a martin phillipps solo album. ah well. one killer track ("come home", which has become a favorite of mine for mixtape-making ), which is so amazingly perfect it's scary, and then some other pretty good ones, and then about half of the album is comprised of wistful-ish ballads that are harmless, if more or less forgettable. i suppose i should pause here to mention that, while i have no idea what the idea is behind it, every chills offering since their debut has had a two-word title with words starting with S and B, in that order: submarine bells, soft bomb, secret box (which included three discs: singular booty, sonic bygones, salvaged bullion), sketch book, sunburnt. again, i haven't the faintest idea...other than that martin is a silly goose."