Quirky pop has never sounded so sweet. With their third full length release, “Eppology,” Seacoast New Hampshire band Murkádee has reinvented itself, while retaining its familiar nostalgic, off kilter vibe. Core members Joseph K Murphy and DeLaine Bennett are joined this time with their live band, drummer The Attic Bat, bassist Jon Briggs, and sax player Steve Dunleavy, providing their most stable line up on record yet.
In the later days of summer 2003, Murphy and Bennett began recording what would become the first Murkádee album. Using friends and family alike to fill in the musical holes of their compositions, the band released Chain Jing Mines, a charmingly innocent album, while still in High School. The local music scene began to react to the amateurish sounding album, noting its raw sound and unconventional songwriting.
With this, Murphy and Bennett immediately set to work on the production of their next album, now taking advantage of several local musicians, including Patrick Boutwell (of The Brother Kite) and the aforementioned Briggs (in his first collaboration with the band.) 2006’s “From A Spectral View” has been called “quirky indie pop that skips off the bleak arrangements and topics that many groups are awash in. Intriguing music from New Hampshire that has you scratching your head as you nod it along to the beat,” by Smother Magazine, where it was an Editor’s Pick. Pretty good, considering it only took a year and a half to record.
Now the band took to playing live shows, performing scattered dates through out New Hampshire, opening for Apollo Sunshine, and even taking to a brick stage constructed in down town Portsmouth, NH. Enjoyable as playing out was, fans started to ask…”Where’s the new Murkadee album?”
On June 4th, 2008 that question was finally answered. “Eppology” is a blend of real life experiences, great hooks, catchy melodies, and groovable beats. In a tribute to the small town that raised them, Murkadee enlisted artist Dan Blakeslee to craft the visual aspect of the album, capturing Epping, New Hampshire’s quaint down town scenery. From the first track 14 Steps’ opening piano chords, to their final track Piles’ swirling synthesizers, a wash of nostalgia, jubilation, adversity and triumphant spills out from the disc.
The future holds no boundaries for the band. Eppology shows passion and artistry, and there are no signs of stopping for the quirky quintet. Expect the unexpected from Murkádee.
Group Members:
DeLaine Bennett
Joseph K Murphy
The Attic Bat
Jon Briggs
Steve Dunleavy
music, etc
RPM demos, works-in-progress, or tracks-finished-early... a musical sketchbook. This is just a sampler -- complete and finished albums will be uploaded into the real jukebox in March!
Good and Evil became a twisted race to the finish.
Tracks (w/ numbers):
1. There We Are
2. Rinse and Reuse
3. More
4. After The Race
5. Reach Out
6. This Will Last
7. Daisy Days
8. Keeping a Mess
9. Cut Off
10. Laundry Room
11. One Must Let Go
Preferred track for listening party:
01 There We Are
Band Bio:
Imagine a young boy and a young girl meeting each other in a small town’s elementary school, a bout of name calling sparks an instant dislike between the two and friction that would not cool for years afterward. Fast forward to the present day, and you have Murkadee: the most eclectic indie pop rock band in the center of the universe; Epping, New Hampshire. DeLaine Bennett (vocals and clarinet) and Joseph K Murphy (guitar, vocals, keyboards) may not have always liked each other, but the effects of a small town environment combined with their special relationship built on a mutual fascination with sound has inspired an intimate blend of raw emotion and calculated musical arrangement. Murkádee is real people, creating quirky pop for the human heart.
Following a 2 year stint with the saxophone driven rock band Pink Lemonade, Murphy and Bennett sought to record a textural genre-crossing album without having to rely on musicians with different goals. After 3 months of intense experimentation and endless schoolyard plugging, Chain Jing Mines was released. Featuring 13 very odd tracks of melodic hooks tangled in tense, effect ridden arrangements, Chain Jing Mines wowed the community. The eyes of local artists began to open…
Murkadee soon started work on their next album, From A Spectral View. This more focused disc showed immense growth in sound production, performance, and song writing. With the help of several guest musicians including drummer, guitarist and singer Patrick Boutwell (of Providence, Rhode Island’s The Brother Kite) and multi instrumentalist Jon Briggs (Chewy, Chris Merenda) Murphy and Bennett sculpted a unique, honest sound. Tracks like Vodka and Alert showed a rougher edge to their unbearable pop, while Pillow pushed the imagination into a mighty wall of sound.
The future has no boundaries for the duo. Between playing shows around the New England area and producing their own weekly web talk show: “Show and Tell with Amos Clapp” Murphy and Bennett are constantly busy dreaming up new ways to entertain their audience. Expect the unexpected with Murkadee.
Group Members & Instruments Played:
Joseph K Murphy - Too much of everything
DeLaine Bennett - Thinkings and Thoughts
Jon Briggs - Banjo Bass and the Sitar
Steve Dunleavy - Mess'n' of good and other drum programming
Band Location (city, state or province, & country):
The Guest Stars
