Peter Murphy
May 30, 2011
In his four decades of service in the post-punk culture wars, Peter Murphy has confounded fans, critics, even himself when the singer began to explore more melodic concerns to distance himself from the gothic-rock culture he helped create.
"People remember those things," the singer says, of his onstage audacity. "They don't remember some digital file they downloaded from the Internet that gets lost among the other 3,000 ones they already have."
Murphy has aligned himself with Nettwerk Records to release Ninth, his first solo album in seven years and the first since the permanent dissolution of Bauhaus in 2009. Produced by David Baron, Ninth is a culmination of where the singer has been and where he is now, all imbued with a confidence that has been Murphy's stock in trade. While countless performers and industry types bemoan the demeaning of music in current download culture, Murphy's only concern is continuing to connect with his audience with unparalleled honesty.
"I think younger audiences are just as aware that they don't have any identity in the music they follow," he says, commenting from a place of aesthetic analysis than any kind of bitterness. "Once they start listening to older music or music that isn't generically issued, they start to hold onto things more. That's why it's more important for people like myself to connect with an audience. I'm not talking about Facebook, I'm talking about a live show. People can really start to form a congealed idea in their relationship with an artist. That kind of connection is missing in the digital world: You experience things more in a tangible realm than in a virtual existence. I don't deny or get anxious about being labeled; I can't really describe what I do, but it does have an outside effect on an audience. But I mustn't get stuck
holding onto that, because you mustn't rest on your laurels."
In 2005, Murphy began working with producer David Baron. In Baron, Murphy found not only a kindred spirit, but also a person with great jurisprudence with regards to modern technology and how it should be considered within an artist's work.
"I call David an errant genius," Murphy says about his collaborator. "He's like my brother: very perceptive, very musical. So musical you can't quantify it. He allowed the music and the ideas to speak for themselves."
Probably the most apparent characteristic of Ninth is the level of intimacy Baron and engineer John Siket captured. The proceedings carry the feeling of a tight, seasoned band, in this case, guitarists Mark Gemini Thwaite and John Andrews, bassist Jeff Schartoff and drummer Nick Lucero. There's a sophisticated energy and psychic urgency to tracks. But it's the album's first single, "I Spit Roses," that reconciles Murphy's melodic sophistication.
While Ninth marks another chapter in his artistic evolution, the album exists on a plane of its own. The single, "Seesaw Sway" is now impacting Alternative.
