| Long Fin
Killie |
| Background information |
| Origin |
Scotland  |
| Genre(s) |
Experimental
rock
Post-rock
Art
rock |
| Years active |
approx. 1993
- approx. 1998 |
| Label(s) |
Too Pure
American |
Associated
acts |
Bows
Music A.M.
Wilma Cakebread |
Long Fin Killie was a Scottish experimental
rock/post-rock
band, which released three albums and several EPs on the British
avant-rock label Too Pure in the 1990s.
|
Contents
- 1 History
- 2 Recurring
themes
- 3 Post-breakup
work
- 4 Discography
- 4.1 Albums
- 4.2 EPs
- 4.3 Various-artist
compilations
- 5 External
links
|
History
Long Fin Killie's core lineup consisted of Luke
Sutherland (vocals, violin, guitar, mandolin, bouzouki,
saxophone, hammer dulcimer, thumb piano, etc.), Colin Greig (electric and upright bass),
David Turner (drums/percussion), and Philip Cameron (electric guitar).
Sutherland had previously been in a band called Fenn, apparently based
in Glasgow[1].
Their name was taken from a family of ornamental freshwater fishes
known as killifishes,
noted for their interesting drought survival and reproductive habits.
The members were all highly-trained, enabling them to create
complex, atypical music which usually featured hypnotically-bowed
violins/celli, jazz-influenced drumming, and meandering ambient
passages. (All Music Guide cites them as having
"staggering levels of musicianly talent."[2]) Vocalist Luke Sutherland often
delivered his cryptic, highly-literate lyrics in an androgynous falsetto voice.
Their debut EP Buttergut was released in
1994, with debut album Houdini following the next
year. were each released in 1994. The band's sound, though diverse, was
influenced by the likes of dream pop mainstays A R
Kane, Cocteau Twins, and Slowdive,
1970s German krautrock
groups like Can,
and labelmates Moonshake, Pram and
Laika.
Mark
E. Smith of The Fall contributed "guest
rants" to the song "The Heads Of Dead Surfers," which appeared in 1995
on the EP of the same name, as well as on Houdini.
(British DJ John
Peel voted this the #10 best song of 1995 in his "Festive
Fifty" list of that year.[3]) LFK toured America in 1995
with the band Medicine; a split EP was released to
promote it.
The band received widespread critical acclaim, but little to
no radio play, though they did tour on the 1996 edition of Lollapalooza
as part of its "second stage," in support of their 1996 second LP Valentino.
While driving from Sweden to Norway in late 1996, the band's tour bus
was involved in a major accident on a patch of ice, causing Sutherland
to suffer a collapsed lung, broken ribs and collar bone, and other
injuries. He began writing his first novel while recuperating from the
crash.[4] In 1997, Turner was replaced by
Kenny McEwan on drums. Subsequent album Amelia
(1998) featured songs of shorter lengths and more conventional
structures, but it proved to be their last. The group disbanded shortly
afterwards, to little mainstream notice, in 1998 or 1999.
Recurring themes
- All of their albums had one-word titles honoring public
icons who died tragically at early ages: Escape artist Harry
Houdini, actor Rudolph Valentino, and pilot Amelia
Earhart, respectively.
- Their releases almost all featured intricate woodcut-style
graphic design; Valentino used woodcuts by
16th-century printmaker Albrecht Dürer.
- All of their EPs (except for the split EP) featured four
songs.
Post-breakup work
Following the breakup, the former members of the band moved on
to other projects. Sutherland helmed the slightly more accessible group
Bows,
which has released its albums on Too Pure. Sutherland now lives in London and has
written the novels Jelly Roll (described by L.S. as
"vaguely autobiographical"; Anchor, 1998), Sweetmeat
(Anchor, 2002), and Venus As A Boy (Bloomsbury,
2004). He has also played violin with fellow Scottish band Mogwai.
He is currently in the band Music A.M..
Greig now lives in Stockholm, Sweden, and runs the independent record label
Cocohippo. He also performs his own music under the moniker Wilma
Cakebread.
Discography
Albums
- Houdini (1995, Too Pure/ American) (PURE
47)
- Valentino (1996, Too Pure/ American/
Warner Bros.) (PURE 54) End of CD has hidden 4.5-minute track with
hammer dulcimer/ gamelan-style
instrumentation
- Amelia (1997/98, Too Pure) (PURE 74)
EPs
- Buttergut EP (1994, Too Pure) (PURE 39)
- The Heads Of Dead Surfers EP (1995, Too
Pure) (PURE 44)
- Split EP with Medicine (1995, Too Pure/ American) (AMR
CD0017) (3 songs by each band)
- Hands And Lips EP (1996, Too Pure) (PURE
58)
- Lipstick EP (1997, Too Pure) (PURE 75)
Various-artist compilations
- The Camden Crawl (1995, Love Train)
(PUBE 07) LFK's song: "The Heads Of Dead Surfers"
- Monsters, Robots And Bug Men: A User's Guide To
The Rock Hinterland 2xCD (1996, Virgin) LFK's song: "(A) Man
Ray"
External links
