OFFICIAL: http://chrismurphymusic.com/
VIDEO: (“Cape Horn”) http://chrismurphymusic.com/video/
Written
by Frank McClure, posted by blog admin
Hard
Bargain is the latest full length release from violinist and songwriter Chris
Murphy. For those unfamiliar with Murphy’s work, violinist doesn’t even begin
to describe his abilities. Murphy is a multi-instrumentalist and talented
vocalist with the uncanny talent for fully incorporating his voice as another
instrument in the musical arrangement rather than somehow keeping it separate. Murphy
made the unusual decision to record this new collection in front of a live
audience and it creates an unique listening experience that goes far beyond
what the typical studio album is capable of. Murphy is a quality force in the
studio, his recordings always crackle with inspiration, but it takes on new
dimensions in a live setting that makes the material seem all the larger. The
production captures his bare bones musical arrangements with vibrant clarity
and puts his voice front and center.
There’s
a lot of diversity on the release, a common hallmark of anything Murphy does. “Caves
of Killala” is cut from a distinctly traditional cloth but seamlessly transitions
into the bluesy title track. The title song carries qualities that we’ll hear
elsewhere on the album and that Murphy seems more comfortable pursuing as his
career progresses – they are commercially minded, in some respects, without
ever intending to be or pandering for listener’s attention. They follow tightly
controlled traditional structures and Murphy manages to bring a great deal of
his own personality and experiences to bear on these time honored forms. “Ain’t
No Place” is a less successful effort in this vein that succumbs to the trap of
feeling a little too stagy – even the precious little language he approximates from
old spirituals is too much and feels an unwieldy and too self consciousness in
the hands of a contemporary performer circa 2017. “Bugs Salcido”, however,
strikes a very different note. This is a sleek, pared back piece of
singer/songwriter genius with a seemingly scattershot narrative attentive
listeners will be able to piece together and a haunted quality in the way it
wonders about what happened to the title character. Murphy gives this vocal
just the right amount of color and raises his intensity at just the right
points.
“White
Noise” and “Last Bridge” come from the same school that produced the title
track but they are even more focused and it isn’t any stretch to imagine them
electrified and rocking out. The latter song, in particular, has a fantastic
chorus that practically begs for that sort of treatment. “Trust” is another
track with those tendencies, but Murphy stretches out here a little musically
and the song overextends itself some as a result. He is better served, on this
album, when he keeps things short, and snappy. The final track “Friend” is a
model of that conciseness and derives much of its dramatic power from the
language and that aesthetic. The plain spoken poetry of Murphy’s songwriting
cuts through the dross and gets to the heart of the matter in much the same way
that the preceding nine songs do. Hard Bargain is a substantial achievement in
a musical world increasingly lacking substance and we are better off for its
presence.
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