John Murry
★★★★
The Stars Are God’s Bullet Holes SUBMARINE CAT. CD/DL/LP
Third solo album from troubled American émigré.
Mississippiborn John Murry’s debut, The Graceless
Age, dealt with his near-fatal drug addiction, and its 2017 follow-up, A Short History Of
Decay, followed his subsequent broken marriage. His third, however, begins to turn towards the light as Murry’s life has become more stable, even if ‘stable’ seems a relative term. Resident in Ireland for five years, Murry has found acceptance of himself, if not peace, and while disturbance and violence still pepper his songs there’s also a bleak humour. Oscar Wilde (Came Here To Make Fun Of You) examines the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the title track opens with the line, “Of course I’d die for you”, and even a pitch-black cover of Duran Duran’s Ordinary World is still about Simon Le Bon’s shopping angst. Murry’s scorchedearth life may not have become a bed of roses, but at last some daisies are pushing through.