A review by jnzllwgr
Dead People I Have Known by Shayne Carter

emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.0

Biographies are so niche. Not everyone is interested real people or feels the need to be a completist. It’s like that for me, but I also love my weirdos. New Zealand had a indie music moment in the 80s that remains legendary today. Of dozens, two bands have been anointed as the gods: The Clean, for the first hit record off of the fledgling Flying Nun Record Label and The Chills, who’s songwriting was 1st to capture global interest (this year’s posthumous Spring Board LP is an encomium that unites the origins of the band with its final years…really worth a go). Arguably, Straitjacket Fits completes the trinity. A Lennon/McCartney-esque writing partnership earning a 6-record deal with Arista, they fizzled after 2. This is the origin story of the band’s Lennon and what went down these last 60 years. CARTER IS A FANTASTIC WRITER. He needed to be. While I love the Doublehappys, the Fits and his 2016 solo album, I struggled to understand the longest-standing Dimmer project. He deftly reoriented me and it just goes to show how listening is as much an intellectual exercise as it is an emotional one. Carter’s story is one of struggle and growth, a lower class punk who has been inducted in the NZ music hall of fame, received legacy awards and laureateships. His literary craftsmanship is witty, turns on a dime, observant and honest. Unique editorial decisions kept things linear, but with swirls in the timeline which really helps connect past events to future ones and back again. I came away loving a broader swath of his music than ever before and respecting his life’s path —which possesses a real sense of truth to his personal compass—  tremendously.  If you’re remotely familiar with New Zealand and the Flying Nun Label / “Dunedin Sound” time period for rock music, check it out.