We’ve featured a number of singles from Virginia-born, New York-based songwriter Molly Murphy in recent years. First ‘Salt for Witches’ back in 2022, a folk pop song straight out of the Blue Mountains which “[drew] on imagery of folklore and superstition” to explore “coping with difficult circumstances and wishing simple actions like knocking on wood or a circle of salt could solve them.” Then ‘Seabird’ in 2024, a cover of The Alessi Brothers 1976 song “complete with vocal harmonies, subtle mandolin and slide guitar,” as we described, “Murphy’s vocals tak[ing] centre stage, confidently but vulnerably delivering lyrics that use the imagery of the titular bird covering vast distances of remote ocean as a metaphor for distances altogether more human.”
With new EP Tendermen’s Tales coming later this spring, Molly Murphy has returned with new single, ‘Lackawanna’. Contining the prior style of melding traditional folk and contemporary indie sensibilities, the song possesses both twang and heft, continuing a line which traces back through Waxahatchee, Jason Molina and further. Sam Roller and Van Isaacson add electric banjo to the track, Evan Alexander Moore drums and Esteban Cajigas bass, an arrangement which buoys Murphy’s soprano vocals and matches their manifold tones. Because this is a track of fine detail and charged momentum, its nostalgic longing matched only by its forward-facing gaze that holds hope in the unspecified years to come.
Tendermen’s Tales will be released in May.