The Chills - Snow Bound (2018)

New Zealand guitar-pop greats the Chills came back from a nearly two-decade hiatus with 2015’s Silver Bullets. And in 2016, they followed up their return with a reissue of their 1986 debut compilation Kaleidoscope World. Now, gearing up to release their new album Snow Bound early this fall, it looks like the Chills are back to stay.

Lead singles “Complex” and “Lord Of All I Survey” feel tied to the bittersweet sting of aging. Frontman Martin Phillipps’ lyrics are meditative, rooted in the man he is today. There’s a serious assuredness to lines like “I’m not the man you think I am/ I’m a complex piece of the plan.” Phillipps sees Snow Bound as “hopefully a kind of Carole King Tapestry for aging punks.”

“Complex” remains comforting, jangly, and wide-eyed. Yet the organ seems to slowly ground it back in mortality. And “Lord Of All I Survey” sounds sweeping and triumphant. There’s power in growing up. Listen below.