Tall Dwarfs ‘Unearthed and Unravelled’
Alec Bathgate, one-half of musical duo Tall Dwarfs, writes about their new retrospective box set. Much of the music was remastered from high-resolution digital transfers created by the Library after the original master tapes were donated in 2018.
Introduction by Michael Brown
On 19 August 2022, the US record label Merge released Unravelled: 1981-2002, a 55-track retrospective by the legendary New Zealand musical duo Tall Dwarfs. Comprised of Chris Knox and Alec Bathgate, Tall Dwarfs were a key group on local label Flying Nun, producing a rich body of subversive, melodious and sonically-experimental work. Their influence has extended well beyond New Zealand, including on indie artists such as Guided By Voices, Pavement, Neutral Milk Hotel and Olivia Tremor Control.
Almost every track on Unravelled has been remastered from high-resolution digital transfers of the Tall Dwarfs’ original master tapes, donated to the Alexander Turnbull Library in 2018 and 2019 as part of the Chris Knox and Flying Nun collections. To help us celebrate this fantastic new release, Alec Bathgate has kindly contributed the following account of the process of putting together Unravelled.
— Michael Brown, Curator Music
Album art for Unravelled: 1981–2002, which was released 19 August 2022 on Merge Records.
Alec Bathgate on Tall Dwarfs recordings
Most Tall Dwarfs recordings were done in the living rooms, bedrooms, and hallways of our respective homes or those of friends. And, on a few rare occasions, in recording studios. The final tapes invariably made their way back to Chris’s front room, the room in which we did most of our recording, to be filed and forgotten about.
Chris Knox and Alec Bathgate in Chris's living room, Ponsonby, 1983. Used with permission.
Chris kept journals while we were recording, detailing what was on each track, who played what and other details. And, similarly, all the tape boxes had the details of what was contained in them. Alongside Tall Dwarfs, there were also the multi-track tapes of Chris’s considerable solo output, plus quite a few other Flying Nun-related recordings. A bit of a treasure trove for the Alexander Turnbull Library folk as they embarked on their project to source, preserve, and digitally archive as many Flying Nun Records recordings as possible.
There had been previous moves to reissue our records, it was problematic though: transfers needed to be made from the master tapes, which required someone to go through them all, on the correct playback equipment, to check their condition and find out what was on each tape. Record covers would need to be recreated, either through scanning the originals, photographing them or recreating them from scratch. Given the number of records we had produced: 6 EPs and 7 LPs, it seemed too difficult.
A couple of years back I’d been doing a series of interviews for a Chris Knox biography. With a certain amount of reluctance, I set myself the task of listening to our entire recorded back catalogue so I could talk with some knowledge about our releases.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like what we had recorded over our 30-year collaboration as Tall Dwarfs, it was just the amount of songs to get through — well over 200. And a general resistance to being immersed in the past.
Around the same time, our friend Ian Dalziel was undertaking the formidable task of sorting through Chris’s workroom and making sense of the years of accumulated drawings, photographs, writings, cartoon strips, film, tape boxes, and general ephemera that Chris had amassed over decades.
Ian’s work facilitated the transfer of tapes to the Turnbull Library who were able to go deeper into cataloguing our tapes and what was contained on them.
Creating a retrospective collection
After initial work was done at the Library, I was provided with a detailed list of everything that was in Chris’s collection. Although a lot of the previous barriers to reissuing our music were being removed, it still seemed like to big a job to reissue our back catalogue in its entirety. Creating a retrospective collection started to seem like the way to go.
By chance, I had some communication with Mac McCaughan (via Instagram), a member of the US indie band Superchunk, who Chris had toured with in the 90s, and part owner of the US label Merge Records. Merge had previously released the 4 LP Anthology box set by The Clean. They were up for doing a similar thing with Tall Dwarfs and the project started to take shape.
Meanwhile, Nick Guy, Senior AV Conservator at the Turnbull Library, had begun making digital transfers of multiple master tapes which gave me access to all our recordings at high resolution (24bit/96kHz).
Compiling music for the vinyl box set
I started to think about what should be included in the collection. There was the practical consideration of keeping each side of vinyl under 20 minutes. And I wanted each of the eight sides to be a satisfying listen in their own right. I started sequencing each of the sides, sometimes having to ditch songs I liked in favour of others that worked better in the context of the overall collection, eventually settling on the 55 songs in the set.
Around mid-2021, and with a worldwide backlog at vinyl pressing plants, Merge had the foresight to book in space for Tall Dwarfs, and a December 2021 deadline was set for delivery of the final sound files.
At the time I hadn’t settled on the final track-listing and hadn’t even considered how it would be packaged, so there began to be some urgency.
By November, I was ready to supply the final sequenced albums to Mikey Young in Melbourne for mastering. I was mindful of Chris’s instructions on an old tape box to ‘Master flat. No eq’. The goal was to balance the volume levels and master tracks so they sat well beside each other sonically without too much colouring of the sound.
Detail of mastering instructions on tape box for SlugbucketHairyBreathMonster (1984). Ref: FLYT7-086. Alexander Turnbull Library.
Lo-fi
Tall Dwarfs are often referred to as being ‘lo-fi’, which might suggest a disregard for how we recorded ourselves. Despite recording on fairly basic equipment we always tried to achieve the best sound we could. We had none of the usual equipment a studio would have at their disposal to modify sound such as limiters, compressors, eqs, or delays.
Our recordings were as untreated as possible and given we had a limited number of tracks, there’s an openness that gives space to the voices and instrumentation, except for a few thrashier songs that are fairly dense with sound!
As the box set was a one-off opportunity, the records needed to sound as good as possible.
Mikey’s final mastered files were sent to Merge who had lacquers cut, from which acetate pressings were made for approval, and then followed up by test pressings made from the ‘stampers’ that would be used to press the final albums.
Master tape for Hello Cruel World (1987). Ref: FLYT10-361. Alexander Turnbull Library.
Master tape for Hello Cruel World (1987). Ref: FLYT10-361. Alexander Turnbull Library.
Designing the reissue’s packaging
My next task was designing the packaging for the box. I had worked on the catalogue for the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū 2021 exhibition: ‘Hellzapoppin’ The Art of Flying Nun and in the process had gone through my collection of Tall Dwarfs related artwork, and also photos I had taken of Flying Nun bands in the early 80s.
Old black and white negatives were found, scanned at high resolution and retouched. The Tall Dwarfs box became a continuation of that process. The boxset design was to be an outer slipcase housing two double gatefold sleeves (printed in fluoro green and purple), and also a 20-page booklet. As well as the vinyl box there was to be a double CD version.
Many months of work followed. It’s fair to say at that point I had serious reservations about whether I should have taken it on! Aside from the box set, there were a host of other things to be resolved: contracts, transcribing lyrics for all the songs, supply of promo material, and supply of our complete back catalogue for streaming sites.
It became an epic undertaking.
The album artwork for the CD and vinyl release includes outer slipcase housing two double gatefold sleeves (printed in fluoro green and purple), and also a 20-page booklet.
There were many months of daily communication with various Merge people. Much reworking and tweaking of the final design. Proofing lyrics, and checking printer’s proofs. The attention to detail was well worth it.
The final box is beautifully printed, and the pressings from Gotta Groove in Cleveland are exceptionally good (not always the case with vinyl in the ‘revival’ age).
Alec Bathgate and Chris Knox of legendary New Zealand music duo Tall Dwarfs. Used with permission.
Chronicling the Tall Dwarfs
My motivation for the project was to chronicle what Chris and I had created together, to have a physical artifact to show for our years of collaboration. And a hope that our work wouldn’t be lost. It’s slightly terrifying to put it up in the public domain to be critiqued and commented on once again. I think I’ve become a little unravelled in the process!
I’m hugely grateful to Merge Records for having faith in us. It’s gotta be a risky release for them. Not only was it expensive to produce, but we’re an obscure band, so no guarantees it’ll sell. And not the least, the contribution of the Alexander Turnbull Library, without whom the collection wouldn’t have been possible.
More about Unravelled
Visit the Tall Dwarfs Bandcamp page for more information on Unravelled and to purchase 4-LP vinyl, 2-CD and digital download versions.
You can also watch the Tall Dwarfs video playlist from Merge Records on YouTube.