The music
of Murder By Death has always struck me as best-suited for autumn, especially
here in the Midwest. The swings
in tone between fluid, ornate melody and thunderous discord evokes an atmosphere of
days shortening, nights encroaching to demarcate boundaries deeper into the mornings
and earlier into the quickly-dwindling evenings, the oppressive weight of
several months of winter on the horizon.
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| Murder By Death (photo credit: Greg Whitaker) |
Murder By
Death (originally formed in Bloomington) seems to thrive in this atmosphere, marrying the portentous and the
cathartic to chilling effect. Mixing gritty folk and orchestral chamber-rock
wrapped around murder ballads, gothic lore and plots of scorched earth between
some heaven and some worldly purgatory, they are songs of the nature of man,
mostly bleak and draped in poignant flourishes.
And what
better night for a Murder By Death show than the lone Saturday night between
Halloween and Election Day? Few bands can capture such spirit for a week
bookended by a celebration of all things ghoulish and the consuming dread of
potential end times quite so majestically. Perhaps, the only way the band could
top such ripe fodder for a memorable set would be to perform the set at the Stanley Hotel (home of the infamous Overlook Hotel from Kubrick’s The Shining), which Murder by Death
has done annually to rabid fanfare for years now.
The band
is currently touring in support of the excellent, seventh full-length album, Big Dark Love (Bloodshot
Records), a record I’ve lived with for most of the past two years. In recent weeks,
I’ve found myself eagerly revisiting the 2012 knockout, Bitter Drink, Bitter
Moon, and Good Morning, Magpie along with MBD’s deep catalog of darkly tinged arrangements and anthems
to prepare for the anticipated Indy date.
Even with
a stacked roster of solid bets for a Saturday night in Indianapolis (Band of
Horses at Old National Centre and Marshall Crenshaw with the Bottle Rockets at the
Hi-Fi come to mind, among others), my money is on Murder By Death at the
Vogue. Fellow Louisville-based trio Twin Limb will open the show in support.
Tickets for the show are $18.50 in advance or $21 at the door.
Listen:
"Send Me Home" from Big Dark Love
Video:
"Lost River" from Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon
"Send Me Home" from Big Dark Love
Video:
"Lost River" from Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon
