Taking a sidestep from The Wombats, frontman Matthew ‘Murph’ Murphy delivers a stellar piece of experimentation and collaboration on debut EP, ‘I Don’t Want To Play The Victim, But I’m Really Good At It’ for his solo project Love Fame Tragedy. Recruiting legends Joey Santiago (The Pixies), Gus Unger-Hamilton (Alt-J), Matt Chamberlain (Soundgarden/Pearl Jam), and Maddy Waterhouse, the first EP in a series of releases sees Murph stretch his pop arm.
The EP centres around Murph’s attempt to find his feet moving to LA as a newly-wed and extending his musical reach, packaged as an upbeat breakup album. Leaning in with the bouncy single, ‘My Cheating Heart’, Love Fame Tragedy fuse the indie guitars of The Wombats with colourful dance beats and vocal doubling, and is a clear nod to the stigma around going solo. The glitterbombs of colour are removed for the following songs in a more simplistic approach to songwriting. ‘Backflip’, ‘Pills’ and ‘Brand New Brain’ are heavy on drum machines, synths, vibrant falcettos and catchy choruses. Fans of The Killers, be sure to listen to ‘Pills’ for a clever reference to a beloved Hot Fuss track.
With such a distinct voice it’s hard for Murph to completely shake his identity in The Wombats, but ‘I Don’t Want To Play The Victim, But I’m Really Good At It’ is able to showcase his musical range and diversity in sound.
‘I Don’t Want To Play The Victim, But I’m Really Good At It’ is out on September 13th via Good Soldier Songs / AWAL Recordings.
4.5 Stars
Good Soldier Songs
Reviewed by Tammy Walters