Album Review: David Kilgour and the Heavy Eights Left by Soft

Album cover for 'Left By Soft' by David Kilgour and the Heavy Eights. Photo / Supplied

Dunedin rock stalwart David Kilgour's previous album, 2009's Falling Debris, had him setting music to the words of Sam Hunt. That project has a slight hangover here. Hunt's credited with a co-write of A Break In the Weather and the title to closing instrumental Purple Balloon.

Otherwise, this eighth Kilgour album - not including his outings with The Clean - is back to what Kilgour and his slowly revolving band of backers, the Heavy Eights, do so effortlessly.

That is, Kilgour's voice and twinkling/scorching guitar meander from one seemingly off-hand song to another.

In the past that unstudied approach has created some magic sets, especially on Kilgour's solo debut and on 2007's The Far Now. And here the 11 tracks start off just as compelling, via the fuzzy stomp of Way Down Here, the psych-pop jangle of Weather, the country shuffle of Steel Arrow, and Pop Song, which is yet another amusing Kilgour song-about-songwriting.

But the second half seems to default to seemingly interchangeable slow-jangling, long-jam numbers like Diamond Mine, which packs some guitar fireworks into its six-plus minutes.

That track and its surrounding company drag things out into a bit of a shapeless haze towards the end. And you're left with the feeling that this is one of those albums that suffers from having an EP's worth of great stuff within.

Stars: 3.5/5
Verdict: Likeable if wearying solo set from Clean bloke.

- TimeOut