Who is Peter Murphy?
Peter John Murphy (born 11 July 1957, near Northampton, England, raised in Wellingborough, England) is the vocalist of the rock group Bauhaus who later went on to release a number of solo albums, such as Deep, Dust and Love Hysteria.
Dust is one of Murphy’s best albums released on April 23rd 2002. Murphy collaborated with the Turkish artist Mercan Dede on this album where he mixed alot of oriental music influence. It’s mainly considered oriental ambient music definitely with the dark lyrics and ambiance.
The album was released through Metropolis Records. Metropolis Records is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania based record label, distributor, and mail-order store specializing in the electro-industrial, synthpop, futurepop, darkwave, and gothic musical genres. (last.fm)
You would ask why we post articles about ambient music on a rock/metal website. There are two reasons for posting this article:
First: Most metalheads with various tastes of music like to broaden their knowledge and discover new artists that take music to new boundaries. In a former post I have discussed Karl Sanders (Nile)’s side project and the Ex-Black metal band Ulver.
Second: Peter Murphy was vocalist of Bauhaus, the gothic Rock band which was one of the pioneering bands in goth music that led to today’s Gothic Metal and Symphonic Metal.
The Album contains 9 tracks lasting 74 minutes.
I will not say each track is unique, they are not! I find each track a continuation of the other but in a new mood, mostly a dark one. You will be taken into a spiritual world reflecting the orient’s old realms and culture. Some tracks seem to have religious influences, mainly an Islamic touch as Peter converted to Islam in the 1990s and moved to Turkey with his wife. He has somehow grasped the oriental spirit and learned about us Middle Easterns and maybe discovered alot of things we don’t even know about ourselves.
The lyrics are all drenched with much mystic and philosophy. Peter’s personal favorite track is “Your Face”.
Your Face lyrics:
Water Lily
Freedom
Where does the
Spirit lay?
Freedom
Lying in shadows
Of light and clay
I trace your feet
Like transparent thrones
I dream of your clinging
I am not alone
I glide with you
Draw you with kole
Your paint the river
I am not aloneThat lover
In the crash
That scent
Lingers now
Your face
Your face
I trace your feet
Like transparent thrones
I dream of your clinging
I am not alone
I glide with you
Draw you with kole
Your paint the river
I am not alone
In few words, Peter describes deep emotions, a state of mind and an obsession with his lover Lily. He seems to imagine her existence and she seems to be a representation of lust and love.
(3 rating, 3 votes)
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2:19 pm
Peter Murphy’s music and composition is great however i do find the tone of his voice a bit “genante” [in french]. I enjoy the mood of his songs (new style not widespread and common yet) and lyrics from what I have read in this sample are also deep, meaningful and differ form the pool of today’s commercial love music and lyrics (or whatever they are called) and as RAMI mentioned a bit philosophical. Listening more to it or even attending his live performance (Beirut Rock Fest 09 - I guess) would help dissolve the little bitterness in his voice.
Keep those article flowing guys!
PS: i was introduced to PETER MURPHY in the “lebanese gothic rocker” weekly band recommendation as well as the LEBmetal Grapevines talking.