FATHER MURPHY - RISING. A requiem for Father Murphy 2LP

Rising. A Requiem For Father Murphy is the latest and final offering from the iconic Italian occult duo, Father Murphy. Composed in the classical Requiem format, Rising follows the Trilogy of the Cross, a series of records that recounts the journey of the fictional character Father Murphy, and subsequently the band itself. The album was mixed and mastered by long-time collaborator Gregory Saunier (Deerhoof), who is instrumental in helping craft Father Murphy's sonic descent over the years.

Album Description by Tristan Bath: 

With Rising, the legend of Father Murphy reaches its culmination. Having gone from religious fanatic, to heretic priest, and ultimately concealing to his final fate on the cross, Rising is the moment Father Murphy finally meets his death. Taking the form of a requiem, Rising will be the final album from Father Murphy. It brings an end to a journey into faith; one longing for salvation and embracing failure. 

Across the Italian occult duo’s 2015 Trilogy of the Cross (the Calvary cassingle, Croce LP, and Lamentations EP) Father Murphy’s sound reached down into grave new depths, more inspired than ever by music from their Catholic heritage. They’ve long been integrating a wider variety of field recordings, empty space, drones, and sonic processes alongside their core elements of pounding percussion, ecclesiastical organs, gnarled guitars, and ritualistic chanting. Again working with longtime mixer/masterer Greg Saunier (Deerhoof), Rising takes the group’s music into new territory. The format of a requiem mass for the dead—in this case for the late Father Murphy himself—brings with it all manner of traditional structural codes, musical reprises, and lyrical rhyming schemes. 

Certain moments see the music adhere far more closely to requia traditions, including the grander sounds of timpani or trombone, and following the metres and rhyme schemes borrowed from traditional texts. The words themselves have all been rewritten for Father Murphy’s requiem however, disengaging from their standardized religious message. The lyrics across Rising are far longer and more complex than the shorter chants and verse that made up previous albums, while the variety and sheer detail of sounds used by the duo has never before been wider or more daring. 

With Rising: A Requiem for Father Murphy, the project reaches its zenith.

45rpm black vinyl double LP, comes in gatefold sleeve

Physical copies available HERE 

Digitals HERE