We’ve been on quite the journey with John Murry over the past few months. It all started with that eye-catching video directed by Aiden Gillen for ‘Oscar Wilde (Came Here To Make Fun Of You)’, before moving onto sombre ‘Ones + Zeros’ and just a few weeks ago we had the rebellious ‘I Refuse To Believe (You Could Love Me)’. Now the Ireland-based American songwriter has released the long-awaited record, The Stars Are God’s Bullet Holes.
As we’ve come to learn, two of Murry‘s previous albums were as a response to trauma, but the difference with this new release is that it’s come from a period of relative stability. That being said, The Stars Are God’s Bullet Holes is still full to the brim with scathing criticism, melancholic waves and violent images, but there’s an unruly humour that portrays an artist in the process of letting go of the pain of his past. Neither forgiving nor forgetting, simply accessing a level of peace.
One point where this dichotomy comes to the fore is in ‘Di Kreutser Sontata’, a back porch Americana serenade that’s about his contentious relationship with his adopted family. He meditatively sings “I will prune this family tree / Cause there’s nothing left but greed / Blood money and property / Love doesn’t mean a thing / When your last name is Murry / And / Should been swindle,” with a tone that’s incredibly intimate, you feel as though you’ve walked into someone’s private inner world here.
Speaking about the experience of writing ‘Di Kreutser Sontata’, Murry says: “I think I’m probably telling the truth there. The part about swindle, that actually would have been my last name [had he stayed with his birth family]. The second half of that song I just kind of made up while I was in there. Some of the lines I was amazed they came. I know I would censor that now. I would change it. I don’t know that I feel good about that, but I don’t feel bad about i t either. I don’t know that I really like that line, because I don’t know that it’s all that good. It’s a weird way to end the verse. But it’s there and it’s OK. Sometimes it’s OK to let these things rest and to accept you’re imperfect.”
We urge you to listen to the rest of this perfectly imperfect album, streaming where ever good music can be found.
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