Chris
Murphy - The Tinker’s Dream
Chris
Murphy’s astounding productivity as a writer and recording artist is,
apparently, inexhaustible. He’s released three full length albums since the mid
way point of last year and the latest of these releases, The Tinker’s Dream,
will likely stand as his supreme achievement from the recent spate of
recordings. He’s shown a remarkable flexibility delving into a number of
musical styles and this new album sees him pursuing largely European influences
with strong hints of Americana naturally seeping through. The Irish/Italian
born native of the New York City area has played alongside some of the most
iconic recordings artists and songwriters of recent generations, but his solo
work measures up every bit as much to the creative bar set by those names on
his artistic résumé. The Tinker’s Dream is a largely instrumental work, but it
surges with melodic ideas and instruments that embody, in their virtuosic
display, every bit as much vocally as the greatest of singers could provide.
“Connemara
Ponies” starts off The Tinker’s Dream in a very cinematic way. This is
melodically lush and Murphy solos over the top of the other instruments with
clear designs in mind regarding the song’s melody but, likewise, a untethered
spirit playing with unmistakable inspiration. It has a breathless pace but
Murphy and his accompanying musicians never push things along too fast. “Union
of the Seven Brothers” is another instrumental, but has a much more restrained
feel than its predecessor. There’s still an abundance of instrumentation in the
tune, but the relaxed pace it takes in comparison to the opener makes for a
dramatic contrast. The album’s title song is more reminiscent of the first, but
it takes a moderately relaxed posture in comparison and has a bit more
playfulness about it than the music on a mission feel audiences will likely get
from the album’s initial track. The first lyric and vocal comes with the song
“Wicklow”. Murphy’s vocals don’t have the same attention-grabbing fluency of
his violin playing, but he’s a more than capable singer who obviously puts
thought into his phrasing and listens carefully to the surrounding music in
order that it inform his vocal approach.
The
other standout song on The Tinker’s Dream with singing and words is “Cape
Horn”. It’s the album’s first single and has an accompanying video, but one
listen will illustrate why this is the case instead of one of the album’s fine
instrumental tracks or the other lyric laden numbers. It’s a much more
developed narrative here than any of the other lyrics and the song also sets
itself up as a instrumental spotlight for a variety of players, including Murphy,
to show off their skill set. “The Tower” is one of the album’s finer
instrumentals and the pronounced hop in its musical step will remind some of
the bubbly energy we heard in the first song. A final instrumental surprise
comes with the track “The Thistlewood Bridge” thanks to its interesting melody
lines and their graceful movement throughout the piece. The Tinker’s Dream is a
dazzling display of musical skill and imagination spiked with a strong dose of
pure inspired fun.
9
out of 10 stars
Bradley
Johnson
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