Gill Civil

aka Gillian Dolinski


Gill Civil’s career has taken many turns: street performer, experimental musician, keyboardist for Crowded House, classically trained pianist, ballet accompanist, and symphony writer.

In New Zealand, Civil is mostly known for her work in Marie and the Atom, an early 80s art-music performance group who released two EPs on Flying Nun and a live cassette EP on Industrial Tapes. Civil’s song ‘Isol’ is a minimalist classic.

Graeme Downes and Gill Civil, during The Verlaines' tour with Marie and the Atom, 1983
Photo credit: Gill Civil Collection
Gill Civil at the Seminário Internacional de Dança de Brasília, Brazil, 2016
Photo credit: Gill Civil Collection
Marie and the Atom, 1982: Virginia Were and Gill Civil, 1982.
Photo credit: Virginia Were
Gill Civil's arrangement of Someone Like You by Adele (2013)
Gill Civil and dancer Linda Arkelian, Burnaby, British Columbia, 2004
Photo credit: Gill Civil Collection
Gill Civil performing in The Holy Trinity Cathedral, Dunedin, 1983
Photo credit: Gill Civil Collection
Gill Civil in her studio, 2020.
Photo credit: Gill Civil Collection
Gill Civil's cover of Royals by Lorde, arranged by Civil for ballet classes (2014)
Crowded House - Now We're Getting Somewhere music video filmed in 1986. Civil briefly appears throughout, playing the melodica and synthesizer.
Gill Civil playing Alexandre Desplat's composition, The Meadow, written for The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)
Gill Civil discusses ballet accompaniment, March 2024
Crowded House enter "The Garden State", Victoria, Australia, Spring 1986: Nick Seymour and Gill Civil
Photo credit: Gill Civil Collection
Marie and the Atom - ISOL (official audio)
Crowded House entering South Australia, Spring 1986: Paul Hester and Gill Civil
Photo credit: Gill Civil Collection
Neil Finn and Gill Civil at The Orpheum, Vancouver, Canada, 1991
Photo credit: Gill Civil Collection
Gill Civil - Aurora Australis (2013)
Gill Civil, during Marie and the Atom's tour with The Verlaines, 1983.
Gill Civil, at home on Rutland Street, Auckland, circa 1982
Photo credit: Virginia Were
The Man on the Island (2020) trailer)
Gill Civil and dancer Linda Arkelian, Burnaby, British Columbia, 2004
Photo credit: Gill Civil Collection
Rhythm Method - 'Creating Criminals' (Beacon 7" single, 1981)

Gill Civil performing in Vulcan Lane, Auckland, 1983, before Marie and the Atom

Gill Civil, at home on Rutland Street, Auckland, circa 1982
Photo credit: Virginia Were
Gill Civil - Echoes of Pachelbel (2013)
The Bongos, c.1984 (from left): Gill Civil, Phil Steel, John Quigley
Photo credit: Gill Civil Collection
Rhythm Method outside Rock'n'Roll Records, Queen Street, 1981 (L-R): John Quigley, Simon Mark-Brown, Bill McGechie, Dave Harris, Gill Civil
Gill Civil - Plies: Cascades (2005)
Gill Civil, 2023
Photo credit: Gill Civil Collection
Gill Civil, left, on the Crowded House tour, August-September 1986 (at right is an unknown back-up singer), backstage at a nightclub in Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Photo credit: Gill Civil Collection
The Bongos - Falling. B-side of Monotony 7" released in 1981.
Labels:

Flying Nun


Industrial Tapes


Furtive

Trivia:

Other recordings Gill Civil contributed to in the early 1980s were the 3 Voices album (Beacon, 1982: backing vocals), and the Tall Dwarfs song 'Nothing's Going to Stop It' (Flying Nun, 1985: piano).

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