The Chills at The Wedgewood Rooms, Southsea: 'Incessantly catchy choruses' | Review

While achieving moderate fame in their home country and Australia during the 1980s, the band found their way into enough discerning ears abroad to enable them to tour and gain a foothold in Europe and the US.

Along with their label-mates on Flying Nun records they managed to help define a sound which would eventually work its way into the DNA of many more successful bands as indie and alternative music broke into the mainstream in the following decade.

This is the band’s first trip to the UK in some six years, and there are those in the room who have clearly been waiting a long time to see them again.

They kick off with Night of Chill Blue from their 1987 debut followed by Bad Sugar from 2018, in a set which roams through most of their studio albums. And these songs set out their stall perfectly – jangly, chiming guitars, pulsing keys, and incessantly catchy choruses.

Frontman, lynchpin and indie-lifer Martin Phillipps is in good humour. This may be his baby, but he has surrounded himself with a fine bunch of musicians who lift the material in the live setting.

Erica Stitchbury switches between violin, guitar and keys, and Todd Knudson is one of those drummers who plays with his whole body – it’s an astonishingly physical performance, and the gurning, grinning looks are those of a man who loves his work.

There’s a change of pace for the down-tempo, reflective Submarine Bells, the title track of their 1990 album, as Callum Hampton swaps his bass for a trumpet.

This is followed by Stay Longer, a song from the period predating their debut album which has never been recorded. However, as Phillipps tells the crowd to no little excitement, the band are currently recording ‘about 30’ of these tracks for future release.

The main set closes with their nearly-hit (number 97 in the UK singles chart, fact fans) Heavenly Pop Hit, which rides in on a gorgeous keyboard riff.

The two song encore combines something new – Hourglass from their latest album, and something old – the minor classic I Love My Leather Jacket.

The audience may be small, but what it lacks in numbers it makes up for in enthusiasm in seeing their indie-pop heroes again.

Phillipps’ gang deserves its place in the pantheon of indie acts whose influence has outweighed their success – but it would still be nice to see them get their just financial deserts in these difficult times.