Kilgour, Hamish

Kilgour, Hamish

Franklestein

Ba Da Bing!

The Finklestein Universe expands! Upon releasing Finklestein last year, a theme album about a fictitious kingdom, Hamish Kilgour simultaneously put out Funklestein which saw two side-long tracks that delved deeper into Kilgour’s fairytale world. Now, the fairytale grows even more nuaced, as Ba Da Bing presents Franklestein—a series of radical remixes which use the Finklestein sessions as a starting point but, being “frank,” are new compositions. Each track is an orchestra in a teacup, sounding like the best Velvet Underground boots suffused with dance beats, allowing unexpected room for autoharp, vibraphone and glockenspiel.

Kilgour, Hamish

Funk/fink R'mxs

Ba Da Bing!

A companion release to Franklestein, Hamish Kilgour’s ten-inch single is ready to bust onto damaged dance floors around the world! Two tracks originally conceived during the Finklestein sessions get their full due, with vibraphone, wistful saxophone and a driving beat that colors the fairytale setting Kilgour originally conceived for his 2018 release, Finklestein. “M’Open” sets a groove and rides it like a evening on the town, while “M’Close” reveals the dark underbellies said evening on the town could reveal.

Kilgour, Hamish

Finklestein

Ba Da Bing!

The Clean member Hamish Kilgour’s second-ever solo album, Finklestein, flips the singer / guitarist / drummer’s path taken on All Of It And Nothing. Having previously gone for intimate, minimalistic performances, this album displays a chock-full production quality akin to a fairytale. It’s a fitting change, seeing as the songs are based around a children’s story Kilgour conceived for his son about a kingdom that invents a way of dealing with their depleting gold resources. The songs include organ, saxophone, pedal steel, piano, vibraphone, harmonica, even footsteps (Kilgour is renowned for his stepping), most of it performed by him and his producer / collaborator Gary Olsen at Olsen’s studio, Marlborough Farms, in Brooklyn. Originally conceived as being a children’s book as well as album, it rides roughshod through this fairytale world with grace. Finklestein took a year to record, as Kilgour’s involvement with a large part of the Brooklyn music scene, as well as dates with recent New Zealand Music Hall of Fame inductees The Clean, split his time. His songs benefit from this elongated recording period, as each track creates its own space within the album’s world, mixing instruments and melodies in a rainbow of ways. Yet it’s Kilgour’s songwriting sensibilities that hold the album together, his charismatic and loose arrangements within a congenial environment of musical play.

Kilgour, Hamish

All Of It And Nothing

Ba Da Bing!

Incredibly, after all his work as a founding member of both The Clean and The Mad Scene, Hamish Kilgour has never released a proper solo album of his own, until now.  Fans of his work over the years will no doubt be pleased with this debut release. All of It and Nothing is an ode to the power of jangle, highlighting Kilgour’s innate ability to both gleam the melodic cube and let the choogle of a chord progression ride itself to greatness.  Written and recorded in collaboration with Gary Olson, who captured the album at his Marlborough Farms studio and accompanies Kilgour on some songs, the album carries a distinct hushed intimacy, full of soft-spoken phrases and light guitar play that belie the power of the music it provides.