David Kilgour - A Feather in the Engine


Format: Vinyl LP
Price:
£29.99

VAT included Delivery calculated at checkout

Stock:
Sold out

Description



On 9 August, 2024, Merge Records reissues David Kilgour’s A Feather in the Engine, remastered and pressed on vinyl for the very first time. Originally released in 2002, A Feather in the Engine followed two full-band efforts 1997’s David Kilgour & the Heavy Eights and The Clean’s 2001 album Getaway and is thus almost startling in its intimacy.

Recorded at home and mostly alone (The Verlaines’ Graeme Downes provides lush string arrangements), Kilgour once called A Feather in the Engine “the most solo LP I’ve made.” Interpolating his genius for guitar pop through acoustic guitars and gorgeous instrumentals, its melodies unfold gently, suggesting that the 13 songs here, written over the course of four years, were searching Kilgour as much as he was searching them.

The dichotomy between A Feather in the Engine’s pop songs and instrumentals fascinates the ear, drawing the listener closer and closer to Kilgour’s virtuosic guitar playing when his lyrics aren’t imparting his breezy charm. The depth of style he achieves the psych pop of “Today Is Gonna Be Mine,” the Velvet Underground-esque churn of “All the Rest,” the chamber folk of “The Perfect Watch” is daunting; listening to it now, every song feels capable of generating a dozen playlists, or like the spawning point of a new microgenre.

Perhaps anomalous upon release, it’s A Feather in the Engine’s instrumentals that feel weightiest in this regard now. “Sept. 98” and “Backwards Forwards,” respectively the opening and closing tracks of the album, are elegant, pastoral epics that call out into the yawning expanse, presaging the simmering ambient country of William Tyler and SUSS, while “Instra 2” pushes out the boundaries of Eastern-influenced psychedelia.

Lovingly remastered (and in some cases remixed) from the original tapes by Tom Bell at Port Chalmers Recording Services, the vinyl reissue of A Feather in the Engine is a crucial opportunity to rediscover one of David Kilgour’s best records, a handcrafted gem that perfects guitar pop’s past while pointing to its future, idiosyncratic in its making and tantalizing in its potential. There is good reason for David Kilgour to be your favourite musician’s favourite musician. A Feather in the Engine is good reason for him to become yours.

SIDE A

1. Sept. 98

2. Slippery Slide

3. All the Rest

4. The Perfect Watch

5. Instra 2

6. I Lost My Train

SIDE B

7. Time to Run

8. Today Is Gonna Be Mine

9. I Caught You

10. Instra 2 reprise

11. Wooden Shed

12. Which One

13. Backwards Forwards

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for looking at our listing, below are a few points to consider before making a purchase:

- All records we sell are Brand New - pre-orders will normally come sealed but if you are purchasing in stock items, please note the copy may have been unsealed for display in the shop. Please email straight after purchase to enquire if this is of importance to you.

- Orders won't ship until all items are released, so keep this in mind when purchasing multiple pre-orders or a mix of in stock and pre-order items.

- The 'Product' page will show the most up to date info we have with regards to the item and its release date, but this information is subject to change so check in with us if you have any questions.

- We unfortunately don't offer tax/vat outside of the UK via the website so please keep in mind that when the items arrives in your country you may be liable to pay a further charge before delivery. (all UK orders the price you see is the price you will pay). Please also note that we are unable to adjust the declared value on items sold internationally.

    Payment & Security

    American Express Apple Pay Diners Club Discover Google Pay Maestro Mastercard PayPal Shop Pay Union Pay Visa

    Your payment information is processed securely. We do not store credit card details nor have access to your credit card information.

    You may also like

    Recently viewed