Unchained Music Blog

Unchained Music Blog

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Chris Murphy - Hard Bargain (2017)



VIDEO: (“Cape Horn”) http://chrismurphymusic.com/video/

Written by Dale Butcher, posted by blog admin

Chris Murphy scores again with Hard Bargain, a new collection of originals recorded in front of a live audience. His luck holds with drawing an appreciate audience who isn’t shy about expressing their approval and respect for his performances. It’s just Murphy alone with a violin, occasional guitar or mandolin, and a stomp box. His voice has grown, with each successive release and added live experience, into a fine instrument for conveying often challenging and always thoughtful lyrical content. His violin playing, the predominant musical weapon in his arsenal, is at or near its peak on this recording and seems akin to some black magician with the instrument – he’s able to work within a variety of styles with this as his primary instrument, moving across wide textures, summoning up a number of moods. Hard Bargain is a ten song collection that will impress his longtime followers and, undoubtedly, make countless new converts to his artistic vision.

“Caves of Killala” begins Hard Bargain in a grand way with its long, expansive melodies suggestive of rolling green mountains, windswept beaches, a musical topography of lush color that engages listeners from the first. This is the closest the album comes to an outright instrumental and it is only in the second half when Murphy provides any vocals at all. The second song and title track is much leaner and traditional in scope. The song’s changes and lyrical content may seem, in some respects, as quite predictable, but it isn’t a black mark against the song’s value. “Hard Bargain”, instead, pleases exactly because of that predictability. These are stalwart changes and those familiar with this kind of music will appreciate the skill and individuality Murphy brings to the formula. It’s ideally streamlined, as well, for commercial success and has a clearly defined chorus that may surprise you with its catchiness.

“Bugs Salcido” is one of the definite high points on Hard Bargain. Murphy unleashes a mid-tempo verbal fusillade at listeners anchored by the death of the song’s title character and the song clearly presents itself as a struggle to understand what happened and how to process its reality. The near-skeletal music flows quite easily but packs the condensed power of a clinched fist. “Last Bridge” is another peak point on Hard Bargain and for very different reasons. There’s a certain amount of reliance on cliché, but Murphy owns those clichés with such unabashed energy that you are willing to forgive him this most miniscule of excesses. He delivers the vocal with an impassioned bellow that puts over its desperation without ever sounding overwrought. The same tastefulness is turned to good use on the album’s finale “Friend”. When Murphy grounds his songwriting in the quantifiable details and connections of our every day lives, he speaks with such straight forward, heart rendering eloquence that listeners can’t turn away. Hard Bargain is an album all but impossible to turn away from once you begin experiencing its strengths. Chris Murphy is a force of musical nature and gathers more steam with each new release.

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