MURPHY & HAMILTON

Doug Murphy & Paul Hamilton’s musical relationship thrives on chance and accident. Acting on the credo that “A wrong note is an error but a wrong note repeated is an arrangement”, their music bear the birthmarks of spontaneity. Almost everything you hear on ‘Only Two Can Play’ and ‘BIG BUN’ – from the live-in-the-studio drums-&-bass rhythm track through to the guitar and vocal overdubs – are first takes.

So much for the methodology. What do the records sound like? Unsurprisingly, they are surprising in their stylistic diversity, eccentric in their construction.

‘Only Two Can Play’ is a hard-rocking, light-hearted collection, including a true dance genre oddity; we’ve had Garage, we’ve had House, but – in their track ‘168’ – we finally get Waiting Room.

Follow-up ‘BIG BUN’ sounds radically different to its predecessor due to the depth of the layers of overdubs. However, this isn’t DMPH finally embracing modern technology: They believe that if you use the same gadgets as everyone else, you will sound like everyone else. They remain true to their D.I.Y. aesthetic.

After a two-year hiatus, DMPH emerged blinking into the light in June 2016 with a three-song E.P. of ‘faux crock’, ‘Nope Unintended’.

Christmas 2016 saw the release of their trio of comic commotions “CAR-TOONS!!”

‘The Silent Finger’ popped up, erect and beckoning, in the deathly grip of November 2017.