The Verlaines - Dunedin Spleen (2019)

The Verlaines have been a seminal Dunedin band since 1980, creating songs that mix astute lyrics with complex, visceral music often influenced by songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Graeme Downes’ day job as a music academic at Otago University. ‘Dunedin Spleen’, the band’s 10th album, continues this trend – and makes up for any delay between records with 19 tracks.‘None of these chords I own, I’ve only gave them temporary shelter,’ the album begins, and the lyrics throughout are similarly thought-provoking, intelligent and satirical, though not without warmth and sadness. The impressionistic chords and touching lyrics of A Crib At Flatline Bay reveal deep loss, while Way Too Old To Grow Up Now is an affectionate nod to a friend and fellow musician in a particular Dunedin scene.

A new Verlaines album always means sophisticated songwriting and musicianship, which ‘Dunedin Spleen’ has in buckets. Freeform impressionistic jazz, show tunes, Weimar-Germany influenced punk jazz (Church And State) and garage rock (None Of These Chords) all feature at points, while elements of punk, indie, and art-rock help to define the album’s sound. Crashing chords, and winding guitar and organ lines add depth to the songs, which are immediate and vital. It’s fair to say that some of the more recent Verlaines’ albums have been harder to engage with, but not so ‘Dunedin Spleen’ – it’s urgency frequently matches the visceral classics from the band’s early years, and shows Downes (and The Verlaines) at their melodic, and intricate, best.

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The Verlaines - Over The Moon (1997)

A one-time Flying Nun act, Graham Downes' Verlaines produced some of the most sophisticated indie pop of the '80s while on the label, and made it to America all too ahead of their time. With Over the Moon, the Los Angeles production replaces the antipodean garage that gave their albums Bird Dog and Hallelujah All the Way Home such a distinctive character, which highlighted the eccentric songwriting sensibilities of Downes. His only peers in the craft being Go-Betweens frontman Robert Forster and fellow Kiwi Martin Phillips of the Chills for absolute mastery of the art. The collection here has all of the distinctive traits that made the Verlaines so special -- quirky lyrics, Baroque string arrangements, and incessant guitar jangle, but somehow Over the Moon sounds a little lackluster with time. Ironically, though, it contains some of his most developed lyric writing and arranging skills, proving that it takes more than production trends to overshadow such genius.

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Various - The Dunedin Double EP (1982)

The Dunedin Double EP was a seminal record in New Zealand music. An unusual format, it contain two 45rpm 12" discs, and at nearly 50 minutes length, it is longer than many albums.  Released in 1982, the compilation was one of the first releases from the newly formed Flying Nun Records label (catalogue number DUN-1), which over the course of the next ten years was to become the biggest independent record label in New Zealand. Many of the label's top groups came from the South Island city of Dunedin, and established that southern city's music scene as the leading source of guitar-based bands in New Zealand throughout much of the decade. The bands from the city which had music released on Flying Nun were grouped under the loose banner of Dunedin Sound, and several of them went on to not only national but also international success.

The Dunedin Double EP established the names of four of these groups, each of which was represented on the double EP by one side. The four bands concerned were The Chills, Sneaky Feelings, The Stones, and The Verlaines. The Chills' song Kaleidoscope World in particular became very popular, gaining considerable airplay for the band (It later provided the title for the band's first album, a compilation of their early singles and EP tracks.  Though the sound quality of the Dunedin Double EP was distinctly lo-fi (it was recorded on portable 4-track), the release of this record provided a major impetus both for Flying Nun records and for the four bands involved, as well as providing inspiration and momentum to the music scene in Dunedin.

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The Verlaines - Corporate Moronic (2009)

Corporate Moronic seems to pick up in places where Yangtze Cod and Chips left off, you remember, Yangtze Cod and Chips was that small number put out by Downes a while back, a protest in song against New Zealand's Free Trade Agreement with China. This album though is partly a musical attack on the corporate world all that is bureaucratic, high interest rates, distrust of politicians and all the strange politics that affects Everyman, where the satire is hidden in the carefully worded vocals, therefore the title Corporate Moronic. But in a wider view this album is a critique of society. Downes seems to have always liked the role of musicians, like the other arts, as the conscience of society. Therefore this album is a reflection upon society and what it has become.

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The Verlaines - Untimely Meditations (2012)

Untimely Meditations sees singer/guitarist Graeme Downes proving yet again his position as one of NZ's finest songwriters. Lyrically and musically inventive, Untimely Meditations is expansive both in sound and style as Downes orchestrates and deftly crafts Post-Punk, classically influenced compositions, satire and a touch of cabaret. Combining subtle humor and Downes's drawl, these ten meditations are stories that explore the personal, political and social. Untimely Meditations is captivating, clever, funny, and pulls no punches. Recorded at Albany Street Studios, Dunedin, over an extended period of 18 months, Untimely Meditations features Downes backed by his core live band (Tom Healy on guitar, Darren Steadman on drums, Stephen Small on keyboards, and Rob Burns on bass) along with an assortment of guest musicians.

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The Verlaines - You're Just Too Obscure For Me… (2003)

This is a career retrospective of The Verlaines material. Complete with their signature songs such as 'Death and the Maiden' and Doomsday, the nineteen songs cover six albums, one EP, two singles and their quarter on the vinyl classic Dunedin Double EP. New Zealand's Verlaines were one of the best bands to come out of that little corner of the world, and fans of NZ music know that that's saying something. Never an easy listen, Graeme Downes' songs are passionate, moody, tortured, hyper-literate, and driven, and that's just the lyrics. The music ranges from the raw post-punk of their early records ("Death and The Maiden" and "Pyromaniac" are quintessential NZ rock) to the measured, baroque-pop of albums like "Ready to Fly", to the more refined alt-rock of their later 1990's work. No one in pop or rock used classical music instrumentation and structure as effectively as Downes, and the result is a band with a truly unique body of work. While any Verlaines fan is likely to have some quibbles about some of the songs chosen, or not chosen, for this collection, it still makes a strong case for one of rock's most original bands.

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The Verlaines - Juvenilia (1987)

Juvenilia is a compilation of the Verlaines brilliant early singles and EPs. First released in 1987, and reissued in 1993 with bonus tracks it documents the bands early history and is the perfect introduction to one of New Zealands great bands. Opening with the irrepressible‚ Death and the Maiden, a song that for many is archetypal of the groups deft ability to wield a pop hook. The album also features their first two tracks‚Angela and Crisis After Crisis, recorded on Chris Knoxs four track and released on the infamous Dunedin Double EP. Juvenilia, complete with orchestral and brass flourishes, is a constant display of the unstoppable songwriting skills of vocalist/guitarist Graeme Downes. From single‚ Doomsday through to their perfect love song‚ Joed Out, Juvenilia is a compilation filled with all the elegant and often magnificently moody elements of the Verlaines.

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The Verlaines - Some Disenchanted Evening (1990)

Opening with the acidic 'Jesus What a Jerk', Some Disenchanted Evening was The Verlaine's' third album and has all the brilliance of the band's previous Bird Dog. Released in 1990, Some Disenchanted Evening sees Graeme Downes and co. Taking a more traditional rock approach - and one that can be bitterly sardonic at times. The result is eleven tracks, stripped-back to reveal the gossamer beauty that underlies the band. Alongside the cut-and thrust structure of the songs, Some Disenchanted Evening yet again displays the breadth, depth and subtlety of Downes' musical ideas.

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The Verlaines - Bird Dog (1987)

Crafty New Zealand pop group lead by song craftsman Graham Downes that leaned heavily toward Baroque classicism on this exquisite collection of tales from 1987. Their art was in the subtlety of arrangements, and the group was pivotal in defining the complex simplicity of the Flying Nun sound alongside the Clean and the Chills. The Verlaines were certainly the first of the family in the '80s to embrace truly classical modality in their delicate pop sound, and the result is Bird Dog, as a sophisticated and glorious album of Downes' distinct genius, whose only peers would be Robert Forster and Martin Phillips. Although his craft may be fastidious, the Verlaines have mastery of rendering it effortless on Bird Dog. Later their sound may have become a little more stilted, but for a group so ahead of their time, anything is forgivable, although many fans of this character and eccentricity displayed here may believe the edge was lost in the '90s when they pursued a straighter MOR sound. With Hallelujah All the Way Home and Some Disenchanted Evening on either side of this release, it is difficult to think of another group who made three albums of this quality in five years.

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The Verlaines - Hallelujah All The Way Home (1985)

The Verlaines 1985 debut album, Hallelujah - All the Way Home defined both the Dunedin band's style and the 'Flying Nun sound'. Grounded in songwriter Graeme Downes innate and inventive sense of melody, at the heart of these 8 songs are magnificent tales of drunkards and romantics all punctuated by guitar blasts and instrumental flourishes.

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