BIOGRAPHY

Following up his well-received Slip Away (2016) and Pocketful of Rainbows (2018), vocalist-guitarist Mark Murphy returns with the intimate and richly textured Hiding Place. It is a record completed during the isolation of the covid-19 pandemic, in a small-project recording studio that Murphy finished at the end of 2019. “The experience of quarantine was balanced by the peace and joy of being alone in the studio and putting the finishing arranging touches on a record that was initially tracked in 2018,” he says.

Hiding Place was recorded primarily at The Bunker Studio in Brooklyn by talented engineer and co-owner Aaron Nevezie. Murphy was incredibly happy with the raw tracks from the session, but the additional “alone time” in his small-project studio allowed him to combine the best of both worlds: pop music with the excitement of an incredible band in the studio, coupled with the classic elements of pop song structure, including synths, vocal harmonies, layered electric guitars, and the like. This freedom to experiment with arrangements of three songs in the small-project studio, without keeping an eye on the clock, ultimately gave the record a heightened personal dimension.

Work on Hiding Place commenced almost immediately after Pocketful of Rainbows was released in 2018. “I mixed and mastered a few songs from The Bunker session in early 2019,” Murphy recalls, “but then I put it away.” Essentially, Hiding Place went into hiding, and it was the social isolation of the quarantine that finally brought it out. “When I returned to these songs,” he adds, “they felt like a timely reflection of the moment we’re currently living in. It was like connecting with an old friend that wanted to tell me something. The first lyric on the title track ‘Hiding Place’ is, ‘A little bit of love will light the way.’ That feels like right now to me.”

Murphy’s music is deeply rooted in a pop-folk, singer-songwriter aesthetic, with his subtle, refined acoustic guitar accompaniments and understated vocals playing a pivotal role. His approach is often compared to a modern-day Michael Franks or Kenny Rankin. First and foremost, he places the highest importance on the musicians he chooses to bring into the music. Just like his two prior releases, Hiding Place finds him working with some of the highest-echelon musicians from the world of jazz, including guests Dayna Stephens on saxophone and Gilad Hekselman on guitar — both renowned leaders in their own right. “Dayna just shines, and he really understands how to play behind a singer-songwriter,” Murphy says. Stephens and Hekselman bring Murphy’s arrangement of Neil Young’s “Harvest” to life. Their solos and interaction throughout the entire song are sublime.

Drummer Jeff Ballard, so essential to Murphy’s first two albums, appears here only on “Harvest.” His brush work, sense of dynamics and time and interplay with the entire band is not to be missed. Otherwise in the rhythm section we hear bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen, mainstays of the acclaimed band Sexmob, as well as frequent collaborators with Jesse Harris and Bill Frisell. Both bring to Hiding Place their impeccable touch and flair. “They’re literally the dynamic duo,” says Murphy.” Pianist Jon Cowherd, a major creative engine behind Brian Blade’s Fellowship Band, proves just as indispensable here (he’s appeared on all three of Murphy’s albums to date). Murphy first heard supporting vocalist Alexa Barchini on Julian Shore’s album Filaments, “and right away I knew I wanted to have her sing on one of my projects in the future,” he says. “She has a special voice and it really fits the overall vibe of this recording.”

Murphy believes strongly in the power of subtle, understated arrangements that reveal a certain personal twist: “Anytime I pick a song to arrange, I want the structural elements to be there, the melody and harmony, but I also want to put a creative stamp on it, something different.” That’s clearly the case with “Junk,” from early in Paul McCartney’s solo career: “The original has that feeling of three the whole way through, and I wanted to experiment with the tune in 4, but incorporating two bars of 3 in the verse. The key is that it has to feel organic. It can’t feel like someone intentionally trying to rearrange or manipulate the rhythmic feel of an iconic song just because they can. I’m really happy with how this one came out.” The Beatles classic “Two of Us,” in that spirit, gets a quasi-tango rhythmic transformation, with a switch to reggae in the B sections and a beautiful Stephens alto sax solo on the fadeout. Cowherd’s New Orleans roots also shine on this track, with playing reminiscent of Allen Toussaint and Dr. John.

There’s a decidedly more electric flavor to Murphy’s take on “Best of My Love” by The Eagles. Cowherd plays silky Fender Rhodes and Murphy plays electric guitar, making the hazy harmonies linger in the air. Again the vibe of the original is present, but the structural details are rearranged just so. The song in Murphy’s hands pays homage to the original but evolves into something new. “Harvest” has those moments as well: the laid-back waltz of the original remains, but sly diminished passing chords and an intriguing four-bar insert after the second verse make it fresh (as do the brilliant solos from Stephens and Hekselman, in that order).

On “Tea in the Sahara” (from Synchronicity by The Police), Murphy unexpectedly introduces the warm, enveloping sound of the mellotron. “That’s me in the new project studio,” he enthuses. “It’s a place where you can go for hours on end and experiment. If you get something great, wonderful. If not, you try again the next day. Having that unlimited time was a gift. I could spend hour upon hour tracking vocals with different vintage mics and adding layers with keyboards and acoustic guitars, then send it all to Aaron at The Bunker to mix remotely. I’m a huge Police fan — Synchronicity was one of those records that made me fall in love with great pop music. Even as a kid I always found the melody and story of “Tea in the Sahara” to be so dark and powerful.”

The closing “3420” simply stands for March and April of 2020 when the song was written and recorded, with Murphy playing all the instruments and tracking by himself. “We were all in quarantine, so there was no chance to get the band together, and so the experimenting began in the new studio. Having that limitation gave this song its life.” The song stands in contrast to anything Murphy has ever written or recorded: it’s an instrumental that sets out confidently with an electronica vibe and a sequence of somewhat eerie and beautiful harmonic and melodic patterns, sitting somewhere between Air, Frank LoCrasto and Weather Report “lite”. “The song sounds a bit menacing but also a bit beautiful and hopeful. It was how I was feeling in real time. Having the opportunity to be alone and finding a space within myself to create allowed me to capture exactly what I was feeling in that moment.” A perfect closer for the record, “3420” provides a window into how Murphy’s music always continues to grow and evolve.

— David Adler