Major Murphy Plumb The Depths Of Parental Anxiety On The Resilient “In The Meantime”

Access Out April 02 On Winspear

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “IN THE MEANTIME” HERE: https://youtu.be/nKqjnK7eGuo

Today, Major Murphy — Jacob Bullard (guitar, vocals), Jacki Warren (bass, vocals), Brian Voortman (drums), and Chad Houseman (guitar, keys, percussion) — share the video for “In the Meantime,” the second single from their sophomore album Access, out April 02 on Winspear. Watch the video for “In the Meantime,” directed by Jacob Bullard and Matthew Bouwense, here: https://youtu.be/nKqjnK7eGuo

“In the Meantime” is an expression of anxiety and claustrophobia written in the wake of the terrifying experience of Bullard and Warren’s young son suffering from lead poisoning. The song’s lyrics search for strength in a moment of trapped uncertainty: “When the whole world crumbles down, I won’t be lost / I will evaporate and turn into a fog / I wonder where I’ll fall / In the meantime, I’ll survive.” Bolstered by mountains of guitars and a hope-lined chorus featuring Bullard and Warren singing in perfect harmony, “In the Meantime” exemplifies the emotional forthrightness and melodic undeniability that runs throughout Access.

Released last month, lead single and title track “Access” has already attracted praise from the likes of The FADER, Stereogum, Vice Noisey, and Brooklyn Vegan. Watch the video for “Access” here: https://youtu.be/3ir21an_gZE

Recorded at Russian Recording in Bloomington, IN between late 2018 and early 2020 with Mike Bridavsky and Ben Lumsdaine, Access finds the Grand Rapids, MI-based group summoning an exhilarating, teenage feeling of musical possibility as they navigate the uncertainty of artistic life and Jacob & Jacki’s newfound parenthood while seeking a sense of agency in the new unknown. With a sturdy and poetic architecture housing some of the most inviting, immediate rock music of this young decade, the nine songs on Access are a crystallization of Jacob Bullard and his band’s burgeoning ambition.

In five years, Major Murphy has evolved from three jamming roommates into the four piece it is now. Members Bullard and Voortman met Warren while they were opening for Jacki’s former band The Soil & The Sun. Bound by a love for bands from Wings to Junip, the three started playing together regularly, plucked their band name out of an extraterrestrial themed book, and, with the help of Winspear, got off the ground releasing two home recorded EPs in 2015 and 2017. The band’s debut LP No. 1 was soon to follow in 2018. Together, with the help of longtime collaborator but newly minted member, Chad Houseman, Access became the band’s first attempt at a more deliberate and conceptual creation.

As Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee) writes in the Access bio: "it's an album that’s remarkably cohesive - a striking relic in an age where ardent and true “album-making” is a fading art form. In nine songs, it somehow takes a listener backwards & forwards at once, reckoning with intrinsic anxieties while conceptualizing a fantastical and vibrant happening, soothing in its familiar, occasionally childlike tone.”

Access has been pegged as one of Vice Noisey’s 10 Albums That Will Get You Excited For 2021. Pre-order Access here: http://smarturl.it/mm-access

PRAISE FOR MAJOR MURPHY & ACCESS

"a feat of endurance that has frontman Jacob Bullard and his bandmates working toward a more patient and empathetic existence through crescendoing repetition.”

— The FADER

"a chugging and expansive rocker built around some indelible harmonies between Jacob Ballard and Jacki Warren and a sweeping sense of forward momentum."

— Stereogum

“jagged and anthemic...fuzzier and way more ambitious than what came before.”

— Vice Noisey

“slow-building widescreen indie rock.”

— Brooklyn Vegan

ACCESS TRACKLIST:

1. Access

2. Attention

3. In the Meantime

4. Unfazed

5. Real

6. Rainbow