The Close Readers - Trees Of Lower Hutt (Vinyl)
Based in Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, The Close Readers formed in 2011 to record the songs of Damien Wilkins. Damien is better known as one of New Zealand’s leading fiction writers, having won the National Book Award twice. He received a Whiting Award in New York at the beginning of his career and shook Ralph Ellison’s hand. His most recent novel Delirious is one of the biggest selling local books of the year.
Trees of Lower is the first record from The Close Readers in a decade.
Why does the album have this title?
Damien writes:
"When we were kids growing up in Lower Hutt, our parents would send us to the dairy to buy their cigarettes. 20 Rothmans in the blue and white pack. We weren't even teenagers. There were always Rothmans lying around the house, and my older sister Miriam and I used to steal a couple of cigarettes and smoke them in a certain tree on the Hutt Recreation Ground which had an amazing bowl-shaped enclosure. It was easy to climb up inside. Did we really believe no one could see us? Was the odd puff of smoke undetectable? I can feel the utter sense of removal and excitement even now. We felt like little gods, happy and free. That's behind the title track here, though I've changed it so that the young people meeting in the tree are older, and not a brother and sister. He lets her read his palm so that they can touch.
In the end, even though the songs travel further than childhood and Lower Hutt, I liked it as a title for the record since trees loom large in my imagination. There are also birds and other creatures in these songs."
Featuring Wellington stalwart musicians Luke Buda, David Long, Tom Calwood, Olivia Campion and more
1. Trees of Lower Hutt
2. Two Heads
3. Stupid Face
4. Welfare
5. Tsunami
6. Eydie Gormé
7. You're Still Here
8. Rails
9. Normal Things
10. The Door
Based in Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, The Close Readers formed in 2011 to record the songs of Damien Wilkins. Damien is better known as one of New Zealand’s leading fiction writers, having won the National Book Award twice. He received a Whiting Award in New York at the beginning of his career and shook Ralph Ellison’s hand. His most recent novel Delirious is one of the biggest selling local books of the year.
Trees of Lower is the first record from The Close Readers in a decade.
Why does the album have this title?
Damien writes:
"When we were kids growing up in Lower Hutt, our parents would send us to the dairy to buy their cigarettes. 20 Rothmans in the blue and white pack. We weren't even teenagers. There were always Rothmans lying around the house, and my older sister Miriam and I used to steal a couple of cigarettes and smoke them in a certain tree on the Hutt Recreation Ground which had an amazing bowl-shaped enclosure. It was easy to climb up inside. Did we really believe no one could see us? Was the odd puff of smoke undetectable? I can feel the utter sense of removal and excitement even now. We felt like little gods, happy and free. That's behind the title track here, though I've changed it so that the young people meeting in the tree are older, and not a brother and sister. He lets her read his palm so that they can touch.
In the end, even though the songs travel further than childhood and Lower Hutt, I liked it as a title for the record since trees loom large in my imagination. There are also birds and other creatures in these songs."
Featuring Wellington stalwart musicians Luke Buda, David Long, Tom Calwood, Olivia Campion and more
1. Trees of Lower Hutt
2. Two Heads
3. Stupid Face
4. Welfare
5. Tsunami
6. Eydie Gormé
7. You're Still Here
8. Rails
9. Normal Things
10. The Door
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