Mary - Major Murphy
There must be some sort of 70's revival thing going on, because this is the fourth artist, apart from Angel Olsen, Jadu Heart, and Feng Suave, that I have discussed using a similar 70's motif. "Mary" would be defined as a Dream Pop song but it definitely shows the influence the Major Murphy has taken from cool 70's jams. To more easily describe what I mean, I would say that "Mary," sounds like a mix of an Eagles (even though I fuckin' hate The Eagles!) and a Dinosaur Jr track (even though they are a 90's deal). Not only in the way lead singer, Jacob Bullard serenades, but the smooth, high pitch plucks on the guitar that (Dinosaur Jr-like) and simple, head-nodding beat on the drums (The Eagles-like).
To me, "Mary" is a very diverse track, in it's thematic approach, but Major Murphy makes the narrative pretty consistent. The titular Mary is becoming a success, but unlike songs that see a character fall from grace (like Tom Petty's "Into the Great Wide Open") Mary maintains her status and the onlooker/narrator encourages and attempts to maintain Mary's success, "oh won't you keep on shining no matter where you are/but so many things will try to drag you down." It's quite an unconventional song from this point of view, but a benevolent and very fitting narrative that excellently coincides with the calm and dreamy instrumentation. I say 'unconventional' because such a topic isn't normally apparent; even in past songs reaching far back to the 70's, nothing comes to mind (if you can think of one please let me know because if I'm an idiot, I would want to know). Nevertheless, let's discuss the role of the narrator.
The song starts out in questioning Mary's actions "oh Mary where are you going?/are you leaving for a day?/I know that you're going someplace," but in a naive and childlike manner. Such a notion, to me, would indicate that as Mary is growing up and becoming a star, the narrator is growing with her, recognizing her, and cheering her on. The perspective of the narrator then suggests that the song is through the mind of the cute kid that Mary or any getting-out-of-this-hick-town-aspiring-star leaves behind, rather than the view of Mary, which is a pretty creative concept.
"Mary" is a single that came out yesterday, November 13th, on Winspear's (the record label) SoundCloud account, who also promises more from Major Murphy in 2018, and the always impressive TheLazylazyme YouTube account, who posted "Mary" so that all you dudes can check it out on a broader medium. So look out for some new stuff by Major Murphy, and take a gander at these links for more insight, and cool things about Major Murphy:
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