Biography

From his earliest days as a member of legendary guitar pop trio the Clean through a long-running career as a solo artist, singer/songwriter David Kilgour stands among the most important figures on the New Zealand pop landscape. The records he made in the '80s as a member of the Clean helped define the decidedly lo-fi and scrappy sound of Flying Nun Records, and as the band matured, their sound became more thoughtful and robust, two things his solo records, which he began recording in the mid-'90s, always were. Working under his own name and as David Kilgour & the Heavy Eights, he crafted intimate indie pop that was intelligent, melodic, and calmly psychedelic. He spent years bouncing between solo work and the Clean, building an impressive catalog of work that spanned decades and rarely wavered in sound or quality. A change to the former came with 2019's Bobbie's a Girl, a darkly melancholy, mostly instrumental album that dealt with the death of his mother. A native of Dunedin, Kilgour first emerged in 1979 as the guitarist with the Clean, the highly influential trio he co-founded with his brother drummer Hamish; when the group disbanded three years later, the brothers reunited in the Great Unwashed, which proved even shorter-lived. After a few years away from music, the mercurial Kilgour formed Stephen, a trio that also included former Goblin Mix bassist Alf Danielson and drummer Geoff Hoani; the group released a 1989 EP titled Dumb, but sessions for a full-length LP were abandoned when Kilgour signed on with a re-formed Clean. When Clean again disbanded, Kilgour briefly joined Snapper before finally going solo in 1990. A year later, he recorded the pastoral, melodic Here Come the Cars; the follow-up, the trouble-plagued Sugar Mouth, appeared in 1994. That year also brought about another Clean reunion, and Kilgour began recording and touring with his old mates again. Modern Rock was released in late 1995, followed by Unknown Country in 1996. The group disbanded after that record and Kilgour returned to his solo career, releasing David Kilgour & Heavy Eights in 1997. The Clean returned yet again in 2000, touring and releasing Getaway on Merge Records. Kilgour and Merge decided to stick together when Clean inevitably went their separate ways again, and the label issued A Feather in the Engine in 2001. That same year his status as one of the premier figures in New Zealand music was cemented when he was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, an honor similar to the English OBE. In 2004, Kilgour released Frozen Orange, perhaps his strongest solo record to date and a testament to his ability to sound fresh after many, many years on the indie rock treadmill. The follow-up, 2006's The Far Now, continued Kilgour's string of under-appreciated gems. After reuniting with old cohorts Clean for 2009's Mister Pop, Kilgour recruited a new band of Heavy Eights (Taane Tokona on drums, Tony de Raad on guitar and keyboards, and Thomas Bell on bass and keyboards) and recorded Left by Soft, which was released in April of 2011 by Merge. The same group of players worked 2014's typically thoughtful and melody packed End Times Undone. The Clean toured the US that same year and when Kilgour got back home, he and the Heavy Eights began work on new songs. The sessions were informed by the deaths of Kilgour's mother and Peter Gutteridge, his former bandmate in the Clean and Snapper. The album that resulted was mainly instrumental and unsurprisingly one of the more emotional albums in the Kilgour catalog. Bobbie's a Girl was issued in late 2019 by the group's longtime label Merge. ~ Jason Ankeny & Tim Sendra, Rovi