Father Murphy - And He Told Us to Turn to the Sun

by Maarten Schiethart

published: 14 / 12 / 2009

Father Murphy - And He Told Us to Turn to the Sun

Label: Aagoo Records
Format: CD

Lavish sounding, but tongue-in-cheek Sonic Youth-influenced rock on debut alabum from offbeat Italian trio, Father Murphy

Review

I apologize beforehand to the country of Italy for not including any Italian entries in my Year 2009 list. 2009 was the year when I came to the notion that its rich music history finally filters through on albums that offer so much, yet get dismissed simply because the singers don't mime to MTV or CNN brawl speak, with the microphone still open. Gothic sonics and Catholic hymns aplenty on this tongue-in-cheek persiflage of Kim and Thurston, lovebirds of a certain New York band from the early 1980's. The Treviso, Italy trio Father Murphy got their name from, again, an early 1980's TV-series which explains for the wonderful mockery they made of it with these authentic sounding rhymes, chants and compositions. The album sleeve design comes in anarchy colours, red and black, printed on recycled brown paper as further example of to whom Father Murphy feels allied to. Father Murphy copied the "Are we Devo, we are Devo" line to mention a Sonic Youth album. "Are we evol? We are Evol" is the running gag towards the end of 'At That Time I Guess We Misunderstood'. This is where the missing link of the Celtic and Latin cultures crops up, with bristling tension and eerie snare acoustics. Whereas at the beginning of the album, when Father Murphy still sounded rather strained and edgy, it all appeared like a Monthy Python excursion into the wacky world of wayward medieval times, now set to a contemporary arrangement. In reality, Father Murphy had unadulterated fun, mixing the cathedral realms and their secretive, native characteristics of extravagant melodies. Let's settle that the irony got lost in the translation.

Track Listing:-

1 We Were Colonists
2 I Sob No More Rage
3 Go Sinister
4 I Ran Out Of Fuel And A Viper Just Bit Me
5 So Now You Have To Choose Between My Two (Black) Lungs
6 Never Forget You Have A Choice
7 Hide Yourself In The Woods
8 At The Time I Guess We Misunderstood
9 In There Graves

Band Links:-

https://twitter.com/fr_murphy
http://fathermurphy.bandcamp.com/
https://it-it.facebook.com/fathermurph
http://fathermurphy.org/
https://www.youtube.com/user/reverendm
https://www.instagram.com/crocemurphy/