The article reflects on Martin Phillipps' artistic journey and his relationship with time, particularly regarding the Chills' final album, "Spring Board: The Early Unrecorded Songs." Written in the 1980s, these tracks represent Phillipps' attempts to reconcile his formative years with the perspectives brought by age and life experiences. His passing at 61 adds a poignant weight to the project, echoing his previous battles with health issues and his remarkable comeback in music. Songs like "Watching Old Home Movies" offer a retrospective lens, intertwining personal history with artistic expression.
On the final Chills album, Spring Board: The Early Unrecorded Songs, time looms especially large. Phillipps wrote these 20 tunes back in the 1980s, during the seven years his band existed before releasing their first album.
A 60-year-old man couldn't just stick to the lyrics of those formative years. Some of the songs were just vague recollections, incomplete, only blossoming during recording.
It's unclear exactly how Phillipps revised the songs on Spring Board before recording them, but it's hard not to hear them in light of the turns his life took in the last 20 years.
Take 'Watching Old Home Movies,' a self-consciously retrospective song about seeing history through clear if bewildered eyes.
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