Forever the guy from the Maxell cassette ad and Bauhaus frontman, the mysterious figure that is Peter Murphy. With a solo output that far outweighs his work with that band, Murphy unleashes ‘ Silver Shade ‘ in 2025 after extensive live shows and recent reissues. It’s been a while since new material has emerged from Murphy, a decade to be precise, and rounding off the symmetry, this is his Tenth solo record and potentially his strongest work to date.

The production by Youth (Killing Joke, The Orb, Paul McCartney)  ‘Silver Shade’ is wrapped in a huge soundscape a panoramic cinematic sound if such a thing exists (if it didn’t it does now)the record opens with the dark, hypnotic, and totally Pete Murphy ‘Swoon’ with its electronic twitching beat and reptative sounds it sets the tone for whats to come.

With eleven tracks, Murphy delivers an epic record that marries his past with his present and no doubt his future with distorted guitars and twitching Rolands everywhere, ‘Hot Roy’ being an abrasive marriage of styles. I do like the undercurrent throb of ‘Sherpa’, and his voice sounds fantastic. There is a Bowie swagger about the title track, which is really appealing, and I do love the crisp antiseptic production; it’s so clinical. Threatening to cut loose but showing restraint. In contrast, ‘The Artroom Wonder’ is almost pop music with lush strings, making the whole epic journey something that draws you in over a simple melodic guitar line.

There is a slight undercurrent to his past abrasive sound, but oh so subtle beneath the twitching synths and pop smooth sheen, but the unique vocals are ever present front and centre, making it an unmistakable record of songs. ‘Xavier New Boy’ is a great example of the lush colliding with the abrasive, but with Flood being in control. ‘Cochita Is Lame’ could almost be something Numan would pen, only to be followed by the riffage of ‘Soothsayer’, a pretty straightforward Rock song complete with wailing licks and “woohoos”.

So what you have is a very flowing record that takes on several moods and textures as you’d expect, recorded beautifully and delivered with pride and style. Goths get the Merlot in and turn off the lights and turn up the speakers.

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