“The night will burn its wax and wick / The stars will leave their stage,” James McGovern from the Irish alternative band The Murder Capital, who has a signature voice like Brandon Flowers (but decidedly post-punk), sings on their latest stripped down, emotional album, Gigi’s Recovery. The album is bookended by the idea of “existence,” from “fading” in the beginning, to “changing” at the end. As hopeful as such a dark band can get.

It is a journey in between book ends, of brokenness and vulnerability as well as the fight for love and commitment. “A thousand lives with you and I won’t be enough,” McGovern sings in a song with a beat and melodic flourishes fit for a Radiohead song. Guitar builds upon guitar in each of the songs, but McGovern’s voice and the story of “Gigi’s Recovery” always remains at the center of the record.

“Our love was made for dreaming / Escaped us without us seeing / The truth forgot the grain.” On one of the most powerful story songs of the album, “The Lie Becomes The Self,” a song that could apply to any number of things, from working in a career you don’t believe in to losing yourself to the pressure of your peers, they deal with the lies that beset us. “Don’t get it twisted / Don’t get it twisted / The lie becomes the self / Outruns the self.”

It is the honesty of the album (and the earnestness of McGovern’s vocals), however, that is its most compelling feature. It is atmospheric music. In some ways it is minimalistic, though each song is chock full of dynamic, compelling instrumentation. It is music to soundtrack our existential crises. With a gentleness to ease the pain, at times, and a knife sharp edge to express the pain, at others. I think this album is a grower, not a shower. I could see it becoming some people’s favorite album of the year, even though it was only released in the first month of 2023.

Order Gigi’s Recovery by The Murder Capital HERE