The 9th is the second collaborative project recorded by Sam Hunt and David Kilgour, this time David brought his backing band the Heavy 8's. The results are a often upbeat alternative album, with Sam Hunt's revived & quirky vocal/spoke delivery, sometimes arranged around poetry, other compositions created in the recording process. Classic New Zealand creative!

"Sam and I talked about making this LP eight years ago after meeting each other on a plane over New Zealand. (Though I had thought about making this LP back in the early 90's!)"

In the meantime, amongst other LPs, DK and the 8's made an LP (Falling Debris, Arch Hill Records, 2008) using Sam's verse.

When Sam, DK & the 8's toured NZ promoting Falling Debris back in 2008 we worked up some music for Sam's poems to be performed live. Musical versions of The 7th, Wavesong and Gunners Lament (James K Baxter) were written for the tour.  The music for Gunners Lament is a re-working of an old Heavy 8s track called Sept 98 (A Feather In The Engine, Merge Records, 2001).

It took us so long to make this LP because we were always busy and we were determined to record Sam live with the musicians. We didn't want it to be one of those recordings pasted together long distance with Sam overdubbing poems onto pre-recorded tracks etc. Or Sam sending us recordings of poems that we could record with. We needed to be in the same room. It took a while before a gap was found. 

So March 2014 Sam came to Dunedin for seven days where we wrote and recorded for about 4 days in an old hotel in Port Chalmers called Chicks. Apart from the three poems mentioned earlier all the rest were worked up over these four days.

Sometimes Sam would suggest  a mood for a poem, or I might be strumming away idly on guitar playing nothing in particular for no one in particular when Sam would say "hey keep playing that,  I think I've got words for that". Or we would pick up our instruments and improvise something up on the spot in pursuit of a Sam suggestion. All of Sam's vocals were cut live with the band.