Last week, The Wombats‘ guitarist and vocalist Matthew “Murph” Murphy released Wherever I Go, I Want To Leave, the debut album from his collaborative solo project Love Fame Tragedy. The 17-track collection spans a fairly wide sonic palette, oscillating between introspective indie rock and glistening pop bangers. You can read a handwritten note from Murph about the album below.
While Murph is definitely the driving force behind the project, he by no means does it alone. Wherever I Go… brings together a smorgasbord of collaborators including Pixies‘ Joey Santiago, The Killers‘ Mark Stoermer, Dan Smith from Bastille and alt-J‘s Gus Under-Hamilton. There are even a few familiar Aussie names in the mix, including Jack River, Art vs. Science‘s Dan Williams and former Gang of Youths guitarist Joji Malani.
To celebrate, Murph himself has shared a list of 10 facts you might not know about the record – have a read below.
10 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘Wherever I Go, I Want to Leave’
1. Wherever I Go, I Want To Leave was recorded over the course of 1 year, on 3 separate continents. LA Jan 2019 (64 Sound, Highland Park) London June/July 2019 (One Eyed Jacks, Tooting) and Sydney Jan 2020 (One Flight Up, St Peters).
2. The track ‘Multiply’ features the amazing and lovely Aussie, Jack River.
3. We recorded several of the album tracks at One Flight Up Studio in Sydney.
4. ‘The Sea Is Deep and The World Is Wide’ was something I would play to my daughter on her ukulele before she went to sleep. And the title was lifted from one of her favourite books… The Snail and the Whale.
5. My wife made the tracklisting for the album as I couldn’t figure it out after several attempts.
6. 95% of guitars used on the album were custom built by a friend in LA – Old Style Guitars, Silverlake.
7. The album features 20+ guest performances, the majority of which have not been announced to press.
8. The song ‘Pink Mist’ takes place on an aeroplane hurtling towards its ultimate demise.
9. ‘My Cheating Heart’ was written in Stockholm after a bust-up with my wife.
10. The outro of ‘Brand New Brain’ was made during the recording sessions and was not a part of the original demo. The outro was heavily inspired by various movie scores by Hans Zimmer.
