about
Creator of the Seven Crows project, Chris Murphy
ABOUT CHRIS MURPHY
Seven Crows is the project of Los Angeles-based violinist and producer Christopher Murphy. On his latest offering, “Secrets Of Navigation,” Murphy melds shimmering sustain lines, legato phrasing and live looping to create beautiful sonic soundscapes and textures. Released in 2020 on Teahouse Records, the album takes the listener on both an emotive and cinematic journey that brings to mind modern-day contemporaries such as Silver Mt. Zion, Warren Ellis, and Lisa Molinaro.
Born into an Irish-Italian family near New York City, Murphy was surrounded by the disparate and eclectic sounds of his neighbors’ traditional music. Inevitably, he discovered rock ‘n’ roll, claiming still further influence from some of rock’s most adventurous and eclectic icons: Lou Reed and Ry Cooder, Bob Dylan and Richard Thompson. He learned about Turkish and Indian music at Simon’s Rock of Bard College and then studied composition at Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music. A longtime instrumental dabbler, Murphy has mostly taught himself how to play percussion, guitar, and mandolin, even some Eastern instruments, but he found his proper match at 22 when he picked up the violin.
Murphy fuses styles and techniques from across the globe, weaving a unique fabric of world music. He finds his element on the stage, where spontaneity and improvisation reign. He has amassed a deep catalog of solo and collaborative music over the years, and his diverse talents make him a sought-after composer and collaborator for film.
As he searches for new ways to communicate through music, fusing styles, and techniques from across the globe, Murphy finds his element on the stage, where spontaneity and improvisation reign. He has performed in more than 40 states in the USA, England, Ireland, and The Netherlands.
AMBIENT POST ROCK
Across the desert under a midday sun. The shadowy American heartland is on the all-night Greyhound. Pre-dawn at sea, no land in sight. These are the kinds of alluring cinematic musical landscapes of openness in isolation that one encounters by innovative Violinist, Chris Murphy’s new Seven Crows moniker. Based in Los Angeles, a prolific songwriter, composer, and performer, Murphy presents his latest masterful instrumental opus, Secrets of Navigation.
This 8-song cycle of layered violin compositions meld artfully nuanced plucked rhythmic figures, lyrical phrasing, and shimmering sustained lines, all refracted by reverbs, echoes, and modulation pedals.
As Murphy explains, “Instrumental music is challenging because you’re asking people to come on a journey with you, but you’re not telling them where you’re going.” You’ll have to trust the navigator on this one: Touching on the varied terrain Murphy has explored in the past, Secrets of Navigation takes listeners into areas of high intrigue and suspense, as on the eerie “Last Letter from Orson Welles,” and to gulfs of vast space as on the aptly titled“Nightsong.” But you’re just as likely to find yourself in a bustling North African souq, as on “Chamoru” or “AncientWays.” Or, perhaps you’ll arrive in the artsy southwest enclave of Bisbee, Arizona, where Murphy tracked these ambient violin elegies with producer Dan Simonis. While the violin is the only instrument being played, don’t be surprised if you hear echoes of kalimba, pipe organ, birdsong, bagpipes, vintage synthesizers, or Miles Davis’ wah-wah trumpet warbles coming from that fiddle. Like fellow violin iconoclasts Warren Ellis (The Dirty Three) and Lisa Molinaro (Modest Mouse), Murphy travels with a supernatural violin in that beat-up, brooding black case. Who knows what you’ll find in there or where it will take you.
– James Rotundi, Jazz Times, Acoustic Guitar
“Instrumental music is challenging because I’m asking you to come on a journey with me, but I’m not telling you where you’re going.”
– Chris Murphy