THE MURDER CAPITAL – CHALK, BRIGHTON 21.02.25
Friday saw the release of The Murder Capital’s third album ‘Blindness’, which brought the Dublin band to Brighton’s Chalk for a Resident Records out-store. What an outstanding album launch it proved to be.
With the stage in darkness, the Dublin five-piece of James McGovern (vocals), Damien Tuit, Cathal Roper (guitars), Gabriel Pascal Blake (bass) and Diarmuid Brennan (drums) came on to a huge cheer from the expectant crowd. They went straight into ‘Moonshot’, the opening track from their new album ‘Blindness’. This set the mood for the set and album with its sharp intensity. James was soon singing at the very edge of the stage, one foot on the monitors, often reaching out to the hands held aloft by the fans in the front row. Bassist Gabriel wasn’t far behind, often geeing up the audience even further.
During the instrumental parts of most songs, singer James would wander to the back or side of the stage, allowing the band’s musicians to deservedly take the spotlight. Diarmuid’s impressive drumming was key throughout the set. Guitarists Damien and Cathal seemed to have different styles and stage personas; one appearing very laid back, while the other seemed more eager. These apparent differences complimented each other perfectly.
After the opening two songs from the new album, it was time for an old tune, with the crowd instantly recognising the intro to ‘Don’t Cling To Life’. On this song, as throughout their set, James’s vocals were full of emotion.
With it being release day of their album ‘Blindness’, James announced “There’s nowhere I’d rather be today” adding “We’re fucking buzzing”.
It was back to the new material with ‘Can’t Pretend To Know’ which had a starker vocal and a great wall of sound.
There was a change in tempo for the following two songs, ‘A Distant Life’ and ‘Born Into The Fight’. While the pace may have slowed, there was no drop in the quality, passion or intensity of the vocals or music. To the much softer sounds of the latter, James’s vocals were more of a spoken word delivery before screaming the lyrics as the song gradually built. ‘Swallow’ and ‘Trailing A Wing’ followed in a similar vein, with James singing to a lone guitar at the start of the former and to Diarmuid’s soft drumming for the latter. The crowd was captivated, watching in near silence this quieter section of The Murder Capital’s set.
James then declared, “After that slow one, it’s back to the mosh pit”, as they went into their back catalogue with ‘Ethel’ from ‘Gigi’s Recovery’. Not that the excited crowd needed any instruction, as the mosh pit soon got going again. James’s vocals were ominous and snarling as he sang, “Where are your friends now?”
‘Words Lost Meaning’ had a melancholy feel with the lyrics, “I never need you to say “I love you” / The words lost their meaning”. Musically, it featured a great wall of sound with guitarists Damien and Cathal coming together centre stage to play.
James recalled the funeral of The Pogues singer Shane MacGowan in Dublin as an introduction to ‘Death Of A Giant’. This tribute to one of Irish music’s true legends was a louder, faster song that picked up the tempo.
James’s stark narrative at the familiar start of ‘Feeling Fades’ received another huge cheer from the crowd. Its fast pace and shouted vocals soon injected even more energy into the gig, particularly in the large, good-natured mosh pit and many others dancing along.
The final song of a superb album launch was introduced as “a song about freedom”. ‘Love Of Country’ was a slower song to close, but as with the rest of the performance, there was no less intensity or fervour. The Murder Capital are, in my opinion, one of the best live bands around today, and their performance to launch their album ‘Blindness’ in Brighton has only confirmed this.
WORDS: PETER GREENFIELD PHOTOS: CRIS WATKINS
The Murder Capital setlist:
‘Moonshot
‘The Fall’
‘Don’t Cling To Life’
‘Can’t Pretend To Know’
‘A Distant Life’
‘Born Into The Fight’
‘Swallow’
‘Trailing A Wing’
‘Ethel’
‘Words Lost Meaning’
‘That Feeling’
‘Death Of A Giant’
‘Feeling Fades’
‘Love Of Country’
The Murder Capital gallery
