Smidley – Capstone Feat. Lucy Dacus
Conor Murphy has announced his third album as Smidley, Murphy Horse, out September 25 on Royal Mountain Records, the follow-up to 2022’s Here Comes the Devil. It’s his first new music under the moniker since his other band, Foxing, went on indefinite hiatus, and he revealed it in about the most St. Louis way possible: throwing out the first pitch at a Cardinals game before sharing lead single “Capstone” featuring Lucy Dacus.
Dacus takes the second verse, her voice settling in against wispy horn lines and hand drums. Murphy’s full band, Foxing bassist Brett Torrence now on guitar, Mitch Renfrew on bass, and Jack Middeke on drums, keeps the track moving on a funky, syncopated bassline. It’s a love song that doesn’t sit still, dense post-chorus harmonies stacking up against a chorus that’s plainer and more direct than the surrounding verses. Murphy directed and edited the video himself, which leans grainy and a little surreal, complete with a choir of friends and Dacus broadcast in on an old box television.
Murphy’s described the album as a product of “a year of confusion and doubt,” with one steady point of certainty running through all of it: marrying the person he loves. He’s also talked about Smidley’s relationship to Foxing directly, saying the project is “either a reaction to Foxing or something I learned from it,” which tracks with how differently this one sounds from the band he’s better known for. Beyond Dacus, the record is reported to bring in Nnamdi Ogbonnaya, Adam Schatz, Brooks Tipton, and Shinra Knives, mixed by Joe Reinhart and mastered by Ryan Schwabe.
I like “Capstone” as an opener, it’s confident in a way that doesn’t need to oversell itself. The record’s reportedly a 10-track album, and whether the rest holds up the same way is something I’ll find out in September.
