The Murder Capital - Gigi's Recovery (Album Review)
Friday, 20 January 2023
Written by Matty Pywell
The Murder Capital’s 2019 debut ‘When I Have Fears’ made you feel as if you were drowning. Written in the aftermath of a friend’s suicide, its dark aesthetic swelled and retreated throughout, offering a powerful statement on loss and its aftershocks. Their follow up ‘Gigi’s Recovery’ finds the Dublin post-punk band further examining their relationship with grief.
‘Gigi’s Recovery’ is far more tonally expansive than its predecessor, but it doesn’t feel quite as singular as ‘When I Have Fears’. Still, its sweeping changes represent a necessary step for the band to evolve. The inventive guitar work by Cathal Roper and Damien Tuit sees them embrace a wider tapestry of sounds, producing moments such as Crying, where they toy with the listener throughout, constantly changing the intensity on a whim.
The Murder Capital have very much created a healing album here, one that explores what it’s like to feel like a prisoner in your own mind. The sombre moments are still there, on tracks such as the sparse Belonging, but elsewhere Only Good Things is a breakthrough moment of duality.
Mixing both bleakness and beauty it is a simple request to see the better parts of life, fusing their most luminous riffs to date with palpable emotion. Throughout ‘Gigi’s Recovery’ emotional dynamics are changed in an instant—there’s desire, resignation and recognition of the arduous road healing takes.
Go to any Murder Capital gig and you’ll see how effective their emotionally-soaked style is. They reach people on a deep level, and ‘Gigi’s Recovery’ only serves as more ammunition for their cathartic communion.
The Murder Capital Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Thu February 02 2023 - STOCKTON KU
Thu February 16 2023 - MANCHESTER Albert Hall
Sat February 18 2023 - GLASGOW SWG3 TV Studio
Mon February 20 2023 - LEEDS Leeds University Stylus
Tue February 21 2023 - BIRMINGHAM Mill
Thu February 23 2023 - LONDON O2 Forum Kentish Town
Fri February 24 2023 - BRISTOL Marble Factory
Sun February 26 2023 - DUBLIN Vicar Street
Mon February 27 2023 - CARDIFF Tramshed
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