Jay Clarkson - Kindle

Rose Hobart with a reissue of Jay Clarkson’s 1999 masterpiece Kindle, available on vinyl for the first time. Clarkson is one of Aotearoa / New Zealand’s most singular songwriters, with a history that includes membership of The Playthings and The Expendables, both groups who released records with the legendary New Zealand label Flying Nun, as well as subsequent solo albums, along with her bands Breathing Cage and (now) The Containers. Clarkson wrote and recorded Kindle after relocating from Christchurch to Dunedin in the mid ‘90s, settling into a new mode of music making and embracing the possibilities of home recording. Supported with funding from Creative NZ, Clarkson bought a four-track recorder – the tried and trusted Tascam 424 Mark II, the cornerstone of any good, self-respecting home studio – and set about to make perhaps her most hushed, gorgeous set of songs yet.