By Adrienne Erica Boudreau:
Beautiful, black clad, Bauhaus founder and frontman Peter Murphy will be coming to The Town Ballroom this Saturday evening to promote his latest solo album “Lion.”
It’s been 35 years since Bauhaus came out with “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” and though Bauhaus remains his most recognizable work Murphy has released ten solo albums since the British post-punk bands break up in 1983.
Much of the 11 track “Lion” was improvised while hanging out with producer Martin “Youth” Glover, bassist of Killing Joke. This resulted in a rough start of the tour for Murphy. I can’t even remember to turn the bathroom lights off so how he managed to replicate an entire album based off improvisation amazes me.
“It was all improvised on the spot and I’m still learning what I did. I’m practicing my head off at the moment,” Murphy said in a May Rolling Stone interview. Hopefully he has got it down by now because both the new generation and older generation of fans will be out Saturday night to hear him.
Murphy was at The Town Ballroom last year with his “35 Years of Bauhaus Tour” where he exclusively played Bauhaus material. However, this time around it’s just him promoting “Lion.”
“Lion” presents itself as a tense, dark journey through deep space. At the opening notes of “Hang Up,” the album’s first song, you immediately know he is bringing it.
Some of the tracks are heavier electronic dance music perfect for either head banging or more complicated moves. But many of the tracks, like the mid-album “Compression,” are great spacey tunes full of tension and passion.
The great thing about this album is that seems fresh. You can tell it’s Murphy with his long, operatic vocal style and brooding music, but there is no sense that he is just rehashing old vibes, styles and tunes because he doesn’t want to retire.
Doors for the all ages Peter Murphy show are at 7 p.m. Tickets in advance are $24 and are $29 day of.