Quirky pop has never sounded so sweet. With their third full length release, “Eppology,” Seacoast New Hampshire band Murkádee has reinvented itself, while retaining its familiar nostalgic, off kilter vibe. Core members Joseph K Murphy and DeLaine Bennett are joined this time with their live band, drummer The Attic Bat, bassist Jon Briggs, and sax player Steve Dunleavy, providing their most stable line up on record yet.
In the later days of summer 2003, Murphy and Bennett began recording what would become the first Murkádee album. Using friends and family alike to fill in the musical holes of their compositions, the band released Chain Jing Mines, a charmingly innocent album, while still in High School. The local music scene began to react to the amateurish sounding album, noting its raw sound and unconventional songwriting.
With this, Murphy and Bennett immediately set to work on the production of their next album, now taking advantage of several local musicians, including Patrick Boutwell (of The Brother Kite) and the aforementioned Briggs (in his first collaboration with the band.) 2006’s “From A Spectral View” has been called “quirky indie pop that skips off the bleak arrangements and topics that many groups are awash in. Intriguing music from New Hampshire that has you scratching your head as you nod it along to the beat,” by Smother Magazine, where it was an Editor’s Pick. Pretty good, considering it only took a year and a half to record.
Now the band took to playing live shows, performing scattered dates through out New Hampshire, opening for Apollo Sunshine, and even taking to a brick stage constructed in down town Portsmouth, NH. Enjoyable as playing out was, fans started to ask…”Where’s the new Murkadee album?”
On June 4th, 2008 that question was finally answered. “Eppology” is a blend of real life experiences, great hooks, catchy melodies, and groovable beats. In a tribute to the small town that raised them, Murkadee enlisted artist Dan Blakeslee to craft the visual aspect of the album, capturing Epping, New Hampshire’s quaint down town scenery. From the first track 14 Steps’ opening piano chords, to their final track Piles’ swirling synthesizers, a wash of nostalgia, jubilation, adversity and triumphant spills out from the disc.
The future holds no boundaries for the band. Eppology shows passion and artistry, and there are no signs of stopping for the quirky quintet. Expect the unexpected from Murkádee.