If ever there was buried treasure, a hidden gem, lurking on The Chills’ Martin Phillipps’ shelf of good things, then 1992’s
Soft Bomb is it. Back on vinyl for the first time in almost 3 decades, the potency, poetry and passion of this album is lovingly repackaged by Fire Records. After the band’s major label debut two years earlier,
Submarine Bells, and its critical acclaim, the band dissolved leaving Phillips to follow it up alone. The album is a roller coaster 17-song, 51 minute trip, a conceptual classic that embraces styles and genres and drops one-liners of personal experience, grandiose longing and some beautifully observed moments, a record that inevitably split opinions as it moved away from
Submarine Bells’ successful sound and arrived amid turbulent times. “
Soft Bomb was The Chills' finest hour,” claimed Perfect Sound Forever a few years back.
Released: November 2020
Cat: FIRELP553
Label: Fire Records
