Rocktrospectiva: The Charming And Shiny "Submarine Bells" Turns 35

Released on February 1990 "Submarine Bells" was the New Zealand band The Chills first album on a major label, as Martin Phillipps signed to Warner Bros. Records subsidiary Slash Records, to release the album in the U.S. 

The album reached No. 1 on the New Zealand album charts and had significant support from US college radio. The album was awarded gold status in New Zealand and represents the peak of the Chills' popularity at home, and also is considered to be one of the defining albums of the Dunedin sound, the album spawned three singles "Heavenly Pop Hit", "Part Past Part Fiction", & "The Oncoming Day".

The Chills released their debut studio album Brave Words in 1987; they had relocated to London earlier in the year, they signed to independent label Slash Records and major label Warner Bros. Records. Upon returning to London in early 1989, the band started working with Gary Smith for their next album Submarine Bells.

The Chills’ sound, were a sort of jangle pop &  indie pop fount with tangible if savvy nods to the 1960s, is well-suited for vehicular absorption. Beginning with one of the band’s signature tunes, “Heavenly Pop Hit", no doubt deepened this first good impression on may, peaking at No. 2 on New Zealand singles chart, also it snuck into the UK singles sales list at No. 97 and even made the Alternative Airplay chart in the US at No. 17., not a bad thing indeed.

But in breaking through to a wider audience, Submarine Bells brightened The Chills’ sound, but it otherwise made no major alterations to an approach that was already amongst the very best in the pop-rock biz. Instrumentally sharp, the keyboards of Andrew Todd broaden Phillipps’ jangle foundation as the rhythm team of bassist Justin Harwood and drummer James Stephenson knew exactly how much weight to give each of the compositions, which launch from a classique foundation but with an utter avoidance of cliché. Phillipps’ distinctive vocals bring it all together, and to often exquisite result.

Other record's highpoint is its concluding title track, but in "The Oncoming Day" the playing gets quite energetic, and later, in "Familiarity Breeds Contempt," becomes borderline raucous, while "Singing in My Sleep" offers an infusion of tremolo rather than jangle. But it’s the sweet beauty moves, like the organ strains in "Dead Web" and the piano and strum of "Don’t Be – Memory," that help to secure Submarine Bells as a masterpiece. "Effloresce And Deliquesce" should be a tipoff to Phillipps’ disinterest in merely revamping standard subject matter and of course the good and decent one "Part Past Part Fiction". 

The critics were favorable especially with the splendorous title track "Heavenly Pop Hit", and many other individual tracks, but chiefly praised the album for its overall cohesion and consistency – signs of the Chills' evolution from "a first-rate singles band" to a fully formed artistic venture with a "mature, restrained and affectingly personal approach" also consider the album as a whole big thing, peaking on the culmination of the Dunedin sound. 

 

Submarine Bells Track List: 

1. Heavenly Pop Hit

2. Tied Up In Chain

3. The Oncoming Day

4. Part Past Part Fiction

5. Singing In My Sleep

6. I Soar

7. Dead Web

8. Familiarity Breeds Contempt

9. Don't Be – Memory

10. Effloresce And Deliquesce

11. Sweet Times

12. Submarine Bells