Access. Major Murphy

I wrote this before, but I consider myself lucky to have been exposed to music at a very young age and that I appreciated the power of music as well. Hence I discovered and liked powerful, alternative rock music well before my 10th birthday. Whether 'Fire' by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, 'Summertime Blues' by Blue Cheer or 'Hello, I Love You' by The Doors, they all went down very well.

Except from roughly 1984 until 1993 that nose for fine new music never really let me down. Like most people will have, it is hard to top my absolute favourites from long ago, but everything else? This is the moment an album like Access by Major Murphy comes in. Although it's the band's second album, I had never heard of it before. From the moment the title song starts the album, I'm all ears.

The dreamy way of singing goes back to early Teenage Fanclub, the alternative rocksongs to a host of bands from the past 50 plus years. A legacy of decades is translated into fine popsongs that sound fresh and rock with a more or a less edge. Major Murphy is not to be caught in one hole where its music is concerned.

Major Murphy is a band from Grand Rapids in Michigan. Access was written and recorded before the corona shit hit the fan. All other plans could be packed along with the touring clothes into a suitcase and stored under the bed for some time. More than a year later the album is released, at a time the U.S. can carefully start contemplating the relaxation of rules. The four piece may contemplate standing at some sort of crossroad when creating Access, it could never have contemplated the forbidden entry sign at all sections of that crossroad.

By releasing Access Major Murphy gives listeners like me a hint of the future. In the here and now I can listen to this great music. Who knows at some point in time I can go and listen this great music live once more. Access is a promise of things to come. Musically Access is close to a dream coming true.

The music on Access is on that thin line between hope and despondence. The point where it is so easy to sink into diatribes against the world and deep despair. It is here that the lightness in the music, the harmonies show hope and the sunlight behind the clouds. In many songs on Access the perceived slacker notion in the music is belied by the beautiful, sometimes little, details in the songs that are so well worked out, proving how much care went into arranging the songs. The sort of moments that carry me away beyond the here and now and make me become one with the music. Let the keyboard carry me and the atmosphere sooth me.

Access is not the kind of album that sweeps me off my feet from the start. No, it is the kind of album that sneaks its way into my brain, slowly conquering it and changing me just a little at a time. Major Murphy, a new name, a new record, a new very favourable impression, finding its deserved spot in between those revelation of songs from long ago.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Access here:

https://majormurphy.bandcamp.com/album/access

 

or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g