Like a rabbit in the headlights you’re caught – whether it's dread, fascination or a deeper resonance, The Murder Capital have you with incendiary debut When I Have Fears. Bitter, twisted, exultant and gloomy in equal measure, the record could be 2019's Unknown Pleasures – not a comparison made lightly but one this writer is prepared to stick to.
From the taught unease of opening track 'For Everything' right through to closer 'Love Love Love', which could be a long-lost Joy Division cut, the Dublin band's debut is a record palpably close to the edge. When I Have Fears swells with looming dread and nervous energy, the sound of your eyeballs twitching after mainlining triple espressos, the sound of cold sweat at 3am with work the next day, all against a rain-soaked backdrop which is sometimes soothing, sometimes oppressive but always, always biblical.
The Murder Capital meticulously build shuddering walls of pressure which loom over before collapsing in on themselves, reaching a dizzying climax on debut single 'Feeling Fades' which swells like a thunderstorm before splitting like forked lightning, pressure released with a ferocious tornado outro.
The record doesn't release, doesn't relax and doesn't let go even when it pretends to – there is angst and grit in abundance but the band more than touch on tender, as on 6-minute 'On Twisted Ground' where James McGovern's vocals are laid bare and vulnerable backed by simple guitar and culminates in a sigh, an outward breath resigned or relieved, who can say?
There are, too, moments of beauty stretched across 'Slowdance I' and 'Slowdance II' but it's the explosion of joy on 'Don't Cling To Life', where the clouds part for two and a half minutes of open-hearted post-punk, the guitar work stepping back and toning the tension down to allow big gulps of clear, crisp air.
Emerging from the same Dublin music scene which has also recently birthed the captivating Fontaines DC, The Murder Capital are the moody Ian Curtis to their raucous post-punk Pogues. A perfectly balanced achievement When I Have Fears sounds like a turning point, sounds important and sounds like one of the records of the year.
Words - Joe Ponting
When I Have Fears is released August 16th on Human Season Records
