Music Review: Peter Murphy - Lion

Today's Music Review will be of Peter Murphy's tenth album (ninth studio), 2014's Lion.

Cover art for Lion

If there is one thing to expect about the "Godfather of Goth," it is to expect the unexpected. Over more recent years, Peter Murphy's career has gone places few would expect - starting perhaps with a turn of the century reinvention that spurred 2002's unique masterpiece, Dust, followed by 2004's return to pop rock form that Murphy had previously built his career on, Unshattered, and ending most recently with 2011's rock triumph full of attitude and energy, Ninth.

Lion, produced by Youth (Killing Joke), is everything you would expect from Murphy at this point and still so much more than you could have guessed. With most of the tracks originally written and recorded on the spot in the studio and in the span of only a handful of days, the album flourishes with an immediacy that makes Ninth feel tame in comparison. Richly sprinkled along the slew of single-worthy anthemic songs are compassionate, emotional ballads that still show off Murphy's rich vocal prowess and beautiful lyrics.

The album opens with the first single, "Hang Up," a synth-heavy song laced with screaming vocals that have been atypical of Murphy's career so far. Afterwards, the album winds into the electro-dance song "I Am My Own Name," which may be Murphy's response to much of the criticism he received in 2013 for endeavoring to do a full Bauhaus tour around the world without the other three original members of the band.

Amid the instantly dance-able songs come slower, passionate pieces that are a bit more reminiscent of Murphy's earlier works, including "Compression," "The Rose," and the soaring "Loctaine." Perhaps a nod back to Murphy's roots in the 80s music scene, songs like "Holy Clown" and "Low Tar Stars" carry the feeling of an 80s new wave song created for the dispossessed (the latter in particular sounding like the dark version of Michael Sembello's 1983 hit song "Maniac").

Lion rounds out with other notable songs "I'm On Your Side" and "The Ghost of Shokan Lake." "Eliza" is a slight change of pace for Murphy, not focusing so much on forms of love, introspection, and religious ideologies, but instead on the idea of leaving self-blame behind, being yourself, and celebrating life.

Murphy's tenth album ends with the title track "Lion," which has a lofty, atmospheric background music to fill in around Murphy's lush, deep vocals, creating a song that alludes to some of the many qualities of an actual lion - powerful, majestic, and encompassing. While not a fast, hard hitting song to round out the album in a fashion of how it started, "Lion" leaves the listener with a feeling of completing a musical journey guided by Murphy through introspection, religion, history, and even a glimpse into the future.

Lion is the rock-dominated album many would expect of him following Ninth. Given his desire on the previous album to prove a point of existence and importance, Ninth was in some regards the album Bauhaus never made, serving to assert Murphy's place as a solo musician and a rock star. Lion is the vastly more experimental follow-up to Ninth now that the audience and self-imposed (to some extent, at least) expectations of the former Bauhaus-frontman are squashed. What comes next only Murphy knows, but Lion may well be one of the best works he has done to date, combining much of what he was originally loved for during the Bauhaus years, the complex lyric writing that has persisted throughout his solo career, and an ingenious musical progression that is neither forced nor completely alien to long time fans. This album will certainly be on repeat for a long time to come.

Peter Murphy will be joined by current band members Emilio "Zef Noise" China (bass guitar, violin), Andee Blacksugar (guitar), and Nick Lucero (drums) for a tour of North America to support Lion that begins June 9, 2014 in New York. Peter Murphy visits Austin at The Belmont on July 29th with local favorites My Jerusalem providing opening support once again (they opened for him on last year's Mr. Moonlight Tour).

Concert Review: Strap On Halo, The Last Cry Visit Austin on the Near Dark Tour

(Note: Yes, I know the photos are missing for some reason. The site I wrote this article for originally seems to have taken them down. Working to get it fixed, but until then, this posting will look a bit odd)

Strap On Halo (Omaha, Nebraska) visited Austin back on Friday, March 21st as part of the Near Dark Tour along with late-80s post-punk/gothic rock group The Last Cry (Brighton, England) and DJs Martin Oldgoth and Augustine Strange.

Strap On Halo / Laura Davila

Taking the stage first, Strap On Halo performed a 12 song set that heavily focused on their recent EP, Haunted, and visited tracks from their past work, including their debut album The Dead Don't Lie. With each song, frontwoman Layla Reyna's vocals shined mercilessly, soaring from note to note as she sang about various things that could haunt a person. Original founder Sean Rial added to the gloomy mood with a lacing of guitar work that wove between the programmed beats and synthesizers to add an ethereal tone. Bass guitarist Marc Jones rounded out the lineup with his enthusiastic play and fun stage presence. The first half of the set saw Strap On Halo guide us through "Only In Death," "Monsters," and perhaps my favorite off the Haunted EP, "Hunger." While small, the audience enjoyed dancing and bopping their heads in time to the music. As Strap On Halo began to wind down the full set, they pulled out the reworked version of "Strigoi" and "You And Your Ghost."

Layla Reyna of Strap On Halo / Laura Davila

Overall, their performance was amazing. The fog machine was a little distracting, but the three took it in stride and made it work for them. Reyna's vocals were perfect as ever, commanding a similar stylistic quality in person, as on recording, to that of Siouxsie Sioux herself. Rial and Jones both made their instruments come to life, taking them far beyond the traditional roles a guitar and bass guitar play in a band. The only pitfall of the night was that only a small handful of Austinites were there to witness these guys.

Following Strap On Halo were The Last Cry. Having formed in the late 80s, The Last Cry only have two full length albums due to a series of lineup changes and a hiatus during the 90s. On stage, however, the band are as lively as any new act and eager to draw people in. Their sound, as one may expect, is very reminiscent of the original dark post-punk bands, sounding like a mesh of The Cure and Depeche Mode.

The Last Cry / Laura Davila

Frontman Andrew Birch sang each song with a passion and intensity that was very catching. Vocally he sounded very similar to Dave Gahan (of Depeche Mode) which worked very well with the style of music played by the other members of the band. On guitar, Tim Green played with precision and control while also manning the laptop to make the appropriate transitions between songs. Rounding out the group is Chris Carey on bass guitar who also played with great passion and movement on stage. The only thing that felt a bit strange about The Last Cry was that they have no live drummer when the music would be well complemented with one. Additionally, while the crowd had picked up a little more from Strap On Halo's set, it was still a bit thin for The Last Cry which I think was a shame as you all once again missed out on a great group.

The night was made complete with excellent music selections from DJs Martin Oldgoth and Augustine Strange who both played a range of music surveying goth rock, post-punk, industrial, and everything between that the goth culture has laid claim to.

Overall, the Near Dark Tour was a wonderful experience and a great opportunity to learn about some great bands that should be far bigger than they currently are. If you weren't here, you honestly missed out on a fun night with very talented people. The Near Dark Tour just reached its conclusion, but keep an eye out for both of these bands as their future is bright (or should I be saying it's gloomy because, you know, goth music?).

Note: Apologies for the large delay in this posting. There's been a bit of a snafu with media postings at the site Laura and I were with, so in an effort to at least ensure the word got out about this show, I've moved it here to this blog (formatting is also a bit off, so I'll look at fixing that soon). We did conduct an interview with Strap On Halo, but a lot of the audio we took has unfortunately been lost. I'll see what I can salvage from what's left.