Doctor’s Orders: The Murder Capital’s James McGovern prescribes his nine favourite albums
Although they only have two albums to their name, Dublin quintet The Murder Capital can be noted as one of the most compelling acts on the current musical landscape. Comprised of frontman James McGovern, guitarists Damien Tuit and Cathal Roper, bassist Gabriel Pascal Blake and drummer Diarmuid Brennan, the band fuse a glacial form of post-punk with expansive flourishes and a poetic outlook that comes from the same tradition as Nick Cave.
Since the band released their 2019 debut, When I Have Fears, there’s been the Covid-19 pandemic, which, understandably, has changed everyone. Although they are still the same group, their recent sophomore effort, Gigi’s Recovery, delivered a new chapter for the band, building on the foundations of their early years with a dynamic new soundscape and unique vision.
The ostensible post-punk remains, but the quintet have refined their sound, looking outwards. Drawing on a range of inspirations, including techno and shoegaze, the record gets remarkably profound towards the end, with it clear that The Murder Capital are set to be a fixture on our airwaves for a long time. Of course, this is no surprise. A story abounds that when the group supported Bristol punks IDLES around the time of their debut single, ‘Feeling Fades’, in 2019, Joe Talbot stood silent listening to The Murder Capital perform. Totally taken aback, before IDLES pounced into their headline set, he proclaimed to the crowd that one day they would be the ones supporting The Murder Capital. After listening to Gigi’s Recovery, you can understand the sentiment.
In the wake of The Murder Capital’s new record, we sat down with their frontman, James McGovern, as he prescribed his nine favourite albums for our latest Doctor’s Orders. The enigmatic frontman listed the records that he holds dearest and explained how they influenced his creative process. During the chat, he chose some classics, as well as more niche works, highlighting the group’s own penchant for borderless sonic enjoyment. All the records noted provide a means of escaping the morass of everyday life and reveal small truths about what to expect from the future of The Murder Capital.
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James McGovern’s nine favourite albums:
The Velvet Underground and Nico -The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967)
The first record McGovern prescribed is the 1967 debut by American rockers The Velvet Underground featuring German vocalist Nico, the aptly titled The Velvet Underground and Nico. The record that broke the group and their German collaborator, it boasts classic pieces such as ‘Venus in Furs’ and ‘I’m Waiting for the Man’.
“There is something about…there’s just such a purity to it, you know what I mean?” recalled McGovern. “I think Lou’s (Reed) lyrics always feel so…the way they dance in between abstractions, and then something utterly human really draws me in. I feel like he does it in maybe a more comedic way at times and stuff like that, but I find that very inspiring.”
“There’s also, there’s a very grim darkness at points in this record, especially in ‘Heroin’,” he continues. “But I think there’s something we all need. It’s probably going to be recurring across all of these, some of these albums anyway, that when an album or when an artist goes to those dark places, I think it makes us… it either makes us feel like, ‘oh, we know we don’t actually have it that bad’. Or ‘maybe I’m not in as dark a place I thought I was’, or it can make you feel like you’re less alone at that point in the day.”
“It’s also got tracks like ‘Sunday Morning’ and ‘I’ll Be Your Mirror’ – probably one of the greatest love songs ever.”
Beach House – Depression Cherry (2015)
Depression Cherry is the fifth album by the Baltimore dream-pop duo Beach House. Featuring fan favourites such as ‘Space Song’ and ‘PPP’, it’s not hard to understand why many – including myself – deem this the best work by Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally.
McGovern said: “I definitely fell in love with Bloom first, I think, their 2012 record. But Depression Cherry is probably the one that engulfed my life the most. I think that’s the whole thing with Beach House is when it clicks, it kind of takes over everything, and you don’t listen to anything else. And then you see the world in this textural, very enriched way — I don’t know if there’s many other bands I can think of that really do that to me. It’s a very particular thing, a very particular relationship with Beach House. I know my friends have the same thing.”
Yo La Tengo – And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out (2000)
The third album McGovern chose was American trio Yo La Tengo’s ninth studio album, And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out. An exquisite body of work, comprised of introspective numbers and noisy moments that hark band to the band’s early days, from ‘Saturday’ to ‘Cherry Chapstick’, it is one of the group’s most dextrous moments.
McGovern noted that the album also influenced the band’s sophomore record: “We were listening to that during the writing of Gigi, and at a certain point then in the last six months, I just noticed that I was playing it almost every day – all the way through always as well. I actually really love the opener – I love ‘Everyday’, and I like ‘You Can Have It All’ as well. They’re another band who give me similar creative emotions to Radiohead, Velvet Underground and Blur as well—this could kind of go anywhere kind of feeling.”
He continued: “You know, I think there’s a theme across these records that I’m into. There’s a kind of very low vibration of human emotion. It’s just a very humanistic record.”
Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders – Promises (2021)
British electronic musician Floating Points has made a career of creating dreamlike soundscapes that whisk us away from the trials and tribulations of existing. His second album, 2019’s Crush, is hailed as one of the greatest dance albums of the 21st century. Building on the giant leaps it made, the follow-up, Promises, which features the late jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra, also falls into this category.
Of the collaborative record, McGovern explained: “It’s just a fucking modern masterpiece. It’s this crazy soundscape of Pharoah Sanders playing saxophone in just the most prodigious way. And it’s got the London Symphony Orchestra as well. So it’s, like, massively expansive. It’s really crazy.”
My Bloody Valentine – mbv (2013)
For his fifth pick, McGovern chose Irish shoegazers, My Bloody Valentine’s third and most recent album, mbv. The most hypnotic moment in their oeuvre, it saw the band’s creative mastermind Kevin Shields refine his sound and build on the heady promise of its predecessor, 1991’s Loveless.
The Murder Capital frontman started by clearing the nationality of My Bloody Valentine up: “Well, first and foremost, obviously there’s the Irish connection, which is great. You know, I think people do forget they’re fucking Irish. You see Irish lists of albums and stuff like that, and it might leave MBV out of it, which is fucking crazy.”
“But this record is just like… I enjoy the playful moments as well. You know, the video game soundtrack moments. It’s really about ‘Who Sees You’, ‘If I Am’, and maybe ‘She Found Now’, which I think are probably my favourites off it. It’s texturally so inspiring.”
He continued: “The layering was massively inspiring for our new record, everything about the mix, everything about the emotion.”
Jon Hopkins – Immunity (2013)
The next album that McGovern selected is from English electronic master Jon Hopkins and his fourth studio album, Immunity. Another masterpiece of modern electronic, fusing IDM and ambient, its lead single ‘Open Eye Signal’ remains a highlight of his career.
McGovern explained: “I’ve said it a few times, that this is my favourite record. That’s on days when I don’t want to engage with lyrics in any way, shape or form. I think it’s a perfect record.” Considering the contenders we’ve already spoken about, it’s high praise.
It’s not just on record that McGovern has been enthralled by Hopkins: “Obviously, ‘Open Eye Signal’ is such a massive tune, such an anthem. And I’ve seen him live a few times. The first time I saw him I was just crying, because it was so beautiful, so emotional.”
DIIV – Deceiver (2019)
Returning to the realm of shoegaze, next up is American quartet DIIV’s third album, Deceiver. A more full-bodied record than their previous two, it was the band’s first album since 2016’s Is The Is Are, and came complete with cuts such as ‘Taker’ and ‘Horsehead’.
The Murder Capital man said: “I just got massively into DIIV – me and my girlfriend. I mean, I obviously listened to them quite a bit five, six years ago… I don’t know when it was. I was definitely into Oshin, but I think I was more into the second one, Is The Is Are.”
“And then yeah, I just started listening to that, and then Deceiver popped up, and I think it took me a couple of listens to fully appreciate the entire thing. I was totally into ‘Horsehead’ and ‘Like Before You Were Born’, but I think it was once I heard… I saw it on their Instagram. It was a video of them playing ‘Taker’ live, and it was just that like mad guitar tone constantly curling around the envelope on it; it’s so cool. Then I just got hooked, and now I think I listen to DIIV like probably an hour a day, every day.”
“I also think it’s very fucking righteous that Zachary Cole Smith has been able to, you know, get his sobriety and write so directly about that on Deceiver.”
Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly (2015)
Kendrick Lamar’s third album, To Pimp a Butterfly, was a monumental moment in rap, with his socially conscious form of writing opening the medium up to the masses and, in turn, cementing his place in history. Of his love for the album, McGovern said: “I just can’t shy away from it. He feels like – to me anyway – he kind of feels like the [Bob] Dylan of rap. Obviously, the hip-hop world is a universe of its own completely.”
“I was definitely into a lot of hip-hop as a kid, predominantly, Biggie and Eminem – and everything else that came with it. That was massive when we were kids. But I just feel like he’s in this whole different realm, everything about the way that he was able to address politics on that record whilst also keeping it tangible emotionally; I think was so fucking cool.”
The LP is remarked on for its ability to transcend the singularity of Lamar’s flow with the universal appeal of his emotions. As McGovern astutely notes: “You know, it steps into areas of rage whilst also keeping communicative. But it’s also everything about him, everything about his attention to detail and his visuals, in his clothing, in his… just everything he does. There’s no one even near.”
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds – Push The Sky Away (2013)
Wrapping up, McGovern picked Push The Sky Away, the 2013 offering from Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. Recorded in Southern France, it was the first album not to feature founding member Mick Harvey, but also welcoming Barry Adamson’s return for the first time since 1986. Notably, it was the last work to feature keyboardist Conway Savage before his passing in 2018.
Asked why he adores Push The Sky Away, The Murder Capital man responded: “First of all, it has one of the best songs of all time, ‘Jubilee Street’. Even though I almost prefer ‘Finishing Jubilee Street’, which is so fucking Nick Cave, to write a song about finishing writing his own because he has that much under his belt you know?”
“A lot of the music I listen to is actually pretty directly linked to how I idealise the artists, the narrative I have in my head about them. So, I love watching interviews with artists and seeing how they work and how they live. And people like Kendrick, like Nick, I really connect with because their lives are more about the music than anything else. I just really connected with the fact that, like, Nick goes into his office at nine or 7 am, and comes out at half-five. I just think that’s fucking cool.”
