Bold punk moves are of no surprise from The Murder Capital. It is a tone they mastered with their debut and built on, expanded from, with Gigi’s Recovery. Just two years later and the band has an extraordinary blur of shoegaze tones and post-punk thrills on Blindness. Their adaptation of those harsh tones, of the big build needed to sell this instrumental heaviness, is heard well on this third album. The Murder Capital stays constantly burning through this release. Singles released in the lead-up to Blindness had a fiery quality to them and while the soft grunge adaptations to their hotly anticipated third release are a real treat, there is a tenderness in the harshness. Contrast is the key to Blindness, a welcome third album with more than a few moments of truly staggering work. Frontman James McGovern and the band consider the repetition of words with the same message here.
What they gauge from those hollow messages on opener Moonshot and outstanding single, Words Lost Meaning, is a desire for change. The Murder Capital builds wonderfully towards an expression of grief coasting through on a bed of roaring instrumentals but lead single Can’t Pretend to Know feels like a step too far. In isolation as a lead single and here, the precursor to heavy hitter A Distant Place, it feels out of place. Perhaps it is The Murder Capital being late to a party started last year by the likes of Fontaines D.C., but there is a feeling of familiarity. Instrumental heaviness is their key, then, and thankfully it remains for much of Blindness. Intimacy as a commodity is a remarkable, mature moment from The Murder Capital and is touched on frequently. Not in a scathing or sinister way, nor a suggestive approach taken by lesser indie rock outfits.
No, The Murder Capital has found a sincerity to pair with these harsher instrumentals, and it marks Blindness as a wonderful piece of work. It was a pairing which worked for Gigi’s Recovery and it too works here. Softer suggestions on Love of Country are blankets of patriotism set alight by individual spirit. What could have been a broadly obvious song becomes a love letter to the self, a rejuvenating song and a spirited percussion focus. It takes some time, but let it win you over and the instrumental excess towards the end becomes that much more powerful. The Murder Capital proves, yet again, that they have a grand understanding of the cultural bubble and the desire to break from it. The Fall gets to grips with that best of all, the lashing out placated by the softer, sudden acoustic guitar work.
Blindness is an album of considerable quality. On its surface is an exceptional run of grinding guitars and rising percussion, a roaring vocal performance from frontman James McGovern certainly helps. Dig that little bit deeper and the fear of failure, the constant pushes the band makes to not only stay ahead of the pack but on top of their game, is heard. Those defenceless moments are their best. Crash through the wall of sound and find a band who are still very much in touch with the fundamental messages heard in previous releases. Not everything is a noise-bursting powerhouse. The Murder Capital remembers to include that gentleness, the softer touch of Swallow provides that, as the band heads on into the well-rounded and stylish Blindness.
