''Lucky Stars'' is the third solo album by New Zealand musician

Don McGlashan Donald McGlashan (born 18 July 1959) is a New Zealand composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist who Is best known for membership in the bands Blam Blam Blam, The Front Lawn, and The Mutton Birds, before going solo. He has also composed for ci ...

. It was released in 2015. McGlashan began writing songs for the album at a small beach house on the Thames Estuary, then moved to Neil Finn's writing room at Roundhead Studios in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

to begin recording them with guitarist Tom Rodwell. The pair were joined by former Mutton Birds guitarist David Long and former Seven Sisters member and current

Phoenix Foundation The Phoenix Foundation is a libertarian foundation that has supported numerous attempts, at times violent, to create independent libertarian states. The foundation was created by Nevada-based real estate millionaire Michael Oliver, his friend ...

drummer Chris O'Connor.Lucky Stars media release, Annie Johnsson Publicity McGlashan said he had altered his songwriting approach on the album, explaining: "It is more personal and I'm not adopting characters to explore an idea ... the 'I' is generally me in this lot." He said "When the Trumpets Sound"—"a brutal song about all the things you've done wrong catching up with you"—had been commissioned by playwright and film director

Toa Fraser Toa Fraser (born 1975) is a New Zealand born playwright and film director, of Fijian heritage. His first feature film, '' No. 2'', starring Ruby Dee won the Audience Award (World Dramatic) at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. His second, ''Dean ...

. McGlashan said: "He needed a song for the middle section of his

013 013 is a music venue in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The venue opened in 1998 and replaced the ''Noorderligt'', the ''Bat Cave'' and the ''MuziekKantenWinkel''. 013 is the largest popular music venue in the southern Netherlands. There are two concer ...

film of the Royal New Zealand Ballet's ''

Giselle ''Giselle'' (; ), originally titled ''Giselle, ou les Wilis'' (, ''Giselle, or The Wilis''), is a romantic ballet (" ballet-pantomime") in two acts with music by Adolphe Adam. Considered a masterwork in the classical ballet performance canon, ...

'' and he'd been listening to ''

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'': songs about going down the road feeling bad. That was the template he was using and he said, 'Why don't you try writing a song like that?'"Graham Reid, elsewhere.co.nz
/ref> McGlashan said ''Lucky Stars'' was "probably the first album I've done for a long, long time that when it was finished I was really keen to get started on the next one because I'd enjoyed the process so much."

Track listing

(All songs by

) # "Girl, Make Your Mind Up" – 4:36 # "Lucky Stars" – 3:47 # "Hold On to Your Loneliness" – 3:33 # "Home to the Other Side" – 4:09 # "When the Trumpets Sound" – 4:53 # "For Your Touch" – 4:13 # "Charles Kingsford Smith" – 4:23 # "Come Back to Me" – 3:16 # "On My Way To You" – 3:42 # "The Waves Would Roll On" – 3:56

Personnel

– vocals, acoustic guitars, percussion, piano, horns, Cantarini organ, bass * Tom Rodwell – vocals, electric and acoustic guitars * Chris O'Connor – drums, percussion * David Long – bowed banjo, Cantarini organ, percussion, banjo * David Garner – cello ("When the Trumpets Sound") * Iselta Allison – viola * John Bell – vibraphone ("On My Way to You")

References

{{Authority control Don McGlashan albums 2015 albums Albums recorded at Roundhead Studios