Wild Young Ways CD + LP

If youre a serious music fan but not a native Kiwi, your first awareness of New Zealands fab music scene may have come from the debut of The Chills mesmerising Kaleidoscope World collection of early singles. Within a few years, a great number of NZ acts saw music released by various UK and US labels . . . generally to great praise and enthusiasm. That this occurred without any of these acts having to move abroad to further their chances was nearly as delightful a feat as the music itself.The exception to this was Dead Famous People, radical in a snap decision after a fivesong 12 for Flying Nun, Lost Persons Area, to change hemispheres and make a go for it in London. It started well. Three London recordings were added to three from their Flying Nun EP and put out by Billy Braggs Utility label about as perfect a minialbum as there039s ever been. Response was positive, more songs recorded, the group did a John Peel session and played out often, but the vaguely impoverished group began to fall apart. Singer and primary writer Dons Savage determined to make it had a nearmiss at becoming Saint Etienne039s singer on an early take of their 039Kiss And Make Up039 cover, and there was a fine performance from her on The Chills 039Heavenly Pop Hit039 . . . but dismay had set in. Upon learning of her mums passing back home, Dons returned to NZ and was quiet for decades.Most of their London recordings were later released later in minuscule quantities by very small labels, but these saw scant press or attention and enjoyed nexttono sales. Their moment had passed, and the band has suffered the strange fate of being the leastknown of the truly brilliant acts associated with Flying Nun. Listening to these lost songs, it seems unfathomable that they could have fallen by the wayside. No NZ songwriter comes as close to equalling Martin Phillipps039 pop brilliance as Dons. Her superbly sweet vocals, delicious harmonies and sophisticated arrangements aside, the songs dealt perceptively with universal follies of youth and yearning in tandem with a thenunusual twist of lyrics dealing matteroffactly with her sexuality at a time when womens music was seen as exclusionary segregated into its own bin in shops, if it existed there at all, and the riot grrrl movement was years away, later breaking through due to its radical stance. Dons is a pioneer in myriad ways, the irony of her transcendent brilliance failing to propel a greater career may rest in the fact that she leapt to the head of the class too quickly for people to grasp it a fate that039s befallen so many musical geniuses acknowledged today but less in their time something rather tragically acknowledged in old pal Martin Phillipps039 song with The Chills, 039A Song For Randy Newman, Etc.039None of these thirteen songs fails to deliver something both immediate and unique. And we039re proud to debut 039Vampirella039, a magical fantasy song of longing and intrigue surely one of the most perfect tunes to ever sit around unreleased for decades Dons is again busy conjuring new songs in the meantime we039re delighted to unveil these obscure gems from the past.