The impact of blues music has influenced genres across the board for decades, but it rarely resonates in the vocal performance alone. Out steps relative newcomer and native New Yorker, Chris Murphy, whose remarkable voice perfectly achieves that genre-specific "je ne sais quoi." A myriad of words come to mind when his dulcet tones first grace your ears, but among the first are likely to be timeless, and captivating. Past his standout debut earlier this year, his upward trajectory continues to soar with the effortlessly slick "Mr. Mister."
An era spanning performance, underpinned by a soulfully grooving guitar lick and a timely 808-infused production, the sparse arrangement urges focus to his mesmeric vocal, which could command your attention truly by itself. Like many others, his lyricism depicts his aperture on the ebb and flow of life, yet another unique trait of his is also his masterful articulation of these themes through his distinctly old-school tinted songwriting.
Sharing an insight behind his sophomore cut in an email statement, Murphy shares that “Mr. Mister is a vulnerable conversation with an all-knowing fictional character set to blues guitar and hip hop drums. I wrote this song one New York winter night on the train home from a long studio session. I was particularly in my feelings that night about self-identity and a slew of other issues, the words came out alarmingly quickly.”
