FATHER MURPHY - Pain Is On Our Side Now

This parallel probably won't be welcomed by Father Murphy, especially at a time when their music seems to float in a dimension all its own. And yet, once again, I like to bring the Swans into the conversation.

Let's be clear, not the latest, pointless incarnation of Swans, but the band that, with great consistency, arrived with “Soundtrack For The Blind” at the endpoint of an evolutionary path that began in no-wave territory.

Well, I've always thought that Father Murphy could give us something similar to that incredible record, and this “Pain Is On Your Side Now” is the most complete proof of it. Stretched out and deformed, dark and visionary, steeped in nervous noise and crossed by metallic pulses so harsh they feel like they could crack your skull open, the four tracks it contains live on the same moods that define the pseudo-post-rock entrails of “Soundtrack For The Blind”.

And confirming that this is indeed the direction taken is the fact that, compared to Father Murphy's previous albums, “Pain Is On Our Side Now” plays its hand even more heavily on restlessness and depth of contrast. So, without interruption, tension-laden silences and thunderous explosions alternate to the point of exhaustion, austerity and transcendence, in a sound that leans ever further into abstraction.

The record is a one-sided double ten-inch; the tracks can be listened to individually or simultaneously on two different turntables, in which case the sound obviously becomes denser. But it hardly matters, these litanies remain litanies however you listen to them, and Father Murphy's litanies continue to be among the most devastating things around.

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08/01/2014