Smidley, the project of Foxing frontman Conor Murphy, has shared “Murphy Horse” ahead of his new LP of the same name. The single is a mid-tempo synth-rock cut build around Murphy’s familiar vocals, which move from a wail to a reckoning in a moment’s notice. He imagines his next life as a horse, being reincarnated as a creature that has no conception of music nor art. The stakes having vanished, the work takes on a different meaning: “I think my peak was in a past life / I can’t help but feel it’s over and I missed it all,” Murphy worries on the track.
“‘Murphy Horse’ became the album title when I realized this song summed up the themes I was exploring most concisely,” he shares. “I felt confused, exhausted and aimless thinking about the future. The reincarnation theme (albeit a tenuous and shallow one) was really born out of hopelessness. In this life, I fail to make the art I want to make. In the next life, maybe I won’t even know what art or music is. To me, there’s something calming in that.”
For now, I count myself lucky that Conor Murphy not only knows what music is, but spends his days and nights making it and playing it live. Check out the video for the track below, and pre-order Murphy Horse here ahead of its September 5 release via Royal Mountain Records. You can also check out a photo recap of Smidley’s recent live dates with Lucy Dacus via the tour diary they put together for us.
