by Kris Handel
Jamison Field Murphy has been plying his trade in the past few years as guitarist/singer in Maryland trio Tomato Flower, adding immense texture and color to that band's twisting prog inflected art-pop. His solo debut, It Has to End, finds Murphy continuing to lay down intricate and complex guitar figures but this time indebted to psych-tinged pop, full of reflection as well as a hauntingly strange tension. These songs are covered in a filmy haze that blurs the sweet melodies and Murphy's tenor filled voice as he quietly delivers lyrics full of introspection and a wide-eyed innocence with moments of dread filled dreams/nightmares and heartache. These fifteen tracks are interspersed with ambient bursts and patchwork snippets of songs that bleed into the composition at unexpected moments creating an aura of seamlessness and fractured cut-up pop.
"Field" has a buoyant guitar line pushed by shuffling drums and walking bass lines, mixing something like mid-80's Felt atmospheres with a more pronounced psych cloudiness before breaking into avant-skronk and synthesizer oddities. Murphy once again jolts the listener to attention, breaking the mood in unexpected ways that keeps the audience constantly on their feet any time there’s a sense of getting lost in the comforting drift imparted from the hazy melodies. "Hate" opens with the remorseful couplet "I guess I'm sobering up/It doesn't last that long" which is heart-wrenching as Murphy's voice soars over lightly strummed guitar and a flute (by Tomato Flower bandmate Austyn Wohlers) that buzzes. Murphy highlights the moments of innocence with a world weary view brought on by the passing of time and weight of disappointments accrued from countless experiences.
"Fool to Ride" is awash in keys and Murphy's sliding guitar lines that alternate between a stinging ring and a jazzy strum, laying out a peaceful sounding bed for his lyrics of unrest and personal tumult. The mix of sweet and sour is done exceptionally well as his vocals switch easily from a detached hesitation to moments of forceful expression. The title track has Murphy woozily exhorting his vocals over wispy keys and ringing guitar before devolving into a howling ambient windstorm. His obfuscation here plays with the under riding disconnect and waves of sound that so often burst the cloudy winsome child-like moments of wholesome pastel-like melodies at the heart of so many of these songs.
It’s hard to get a true grip on the moods and emotions of It Has to End, yet the journey in doing so is ever rewarding in so many moments filled with grace, deep beauty ,and forethought. The collage-like elements truly add to an atmosphere of exploration and add a different context to the moments of simmering intensity and playful purity. Jamison Field Murphy has produced a work that is beguilingly complex in its every movement and has given the listener a journey into a bewildering universe that contains multitudes. This record has a unique poetry to it and he’s shown himself to be a master at subverting logical expectation, compiling an album full of wonder and extremes that is quite a delight.