Shop By Artist
Search Store

David Kilgour

A Feather in the Engine

Release Date
January 22, 2002
MRG197
Product Image
LP
Black
  • Limited-edition reissue
  • Remastered and on vinyl for the first time
  • Printed paper inner sleeve
$27.98
CD
  • Original 2002 release
  • Housed in a jewel case
  • 4-panel insert
$13.98
Download
$8.99
Bundle & Save
SHOW BUNDLES

All physical formats include a download.

Originally released in 2002 and reissued on vinyl in 2024.

Recorded at home and mostly alone (The Verlaines’ Graeme Downes provides lush string arrangements), co-founder of The Clean David Kilgour once called A Feather in the Engine, his first album for Merge, “the most solo LP I’ve made.” Interpolating his genius for guitar pop through acoustic guitars and gorgeous instrumentals, its melodies unfold gently, suggesting that the 13 songs here, written over the course of four years, were searching Kilgour as much as he was searching them. The dichotomy between A Feather in the Engine’s pop songs and its instrumentals fascinates the ear, drawing the listener closer and closer to Kilgour’s virtuosic guitar playing when his lyrics aren’t imparting his breezy charm. 

Tracklist

1 Sept. 98 (3:24)
2 Slippery Slide (3:07)
3 All the Rest (4:16)
4 The Perfect Watch (2:44)
5 Instra 2 (2:41)
6 I Lost My Train (2:27)
7 Time to Run (1:43)
8 Today Is Gonna Be Mine (3:20)
9 I Caught You (3:21)
10 Instra 2 Reprise (3:23)
11 Wooden Shed (3:28)
12 Which One (1:19)
13 Backwards Forwards (3:36)