Album Info
| Artist: | The Murder Capital |
| Album: | Gigi's Recovery |
| Released: | UK & Europe, 2023 |
Tracklist:
| A1 | Existence | 1:05 |
| A2 | Crying | 5:12 |
| A3 | Return My Head | 2:45 |
| A4 | Ethel | 4:29 |
| A5 | The Stars Will Leave Their Stage | 4:40 |
| A6 | Belonging | 3:20 |
| B1 | The Lie Becomes the Self | 5:04 |
| B2 | A Thousand Lives | 4:14 |
| B3 | We Had to Disappear | 3:52 |
| B4 | Only Good Things | 3:15 |
| B5 | Gigi’s Recovery | 5:51 |
| B6 | Exist | 1:28 |
Info About Buying Vinyl From Our Record Store
- We are a small independent record store located at 91 Plenty Rd, Preston in Melbourne, Australia (North of Northcote, between Thornbury & Reservoir)
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- Happy Listening!
Description
Gigi’s Recovery lands like a deep breath after a sprint. The Murder Capital’s 2019 debut, When I Have Fears, tore through the room with grief and urgency, and it marked the Dublin five piece as a serious force in the same conversation as Fontaines D.C. and Gilla Band. Four years on, the band return with a record that keeps the intensity, but swaps blunt force for patience and colour. Released on 20 January 2023 through Human Season Records, and produced by John Congleton, Gigi’s Recovery is a measured, rewarding second act from a group who clearly wanted to grow rather than repeat themselves.
You can hear the shift in the early singles. Only Good Things arrived first and felt almost shocking in its brightness, the melody stepping forward without losing the band’s edge. Return My Head snaps like a live wire, Diarmuid Brennan’s drumming pushing and pulling while Gabriel Paschal Blake’s bass stays iron tight. Ethel shows the softer side, a tender sway with enough space to let James McGovern’s vocal sit right in your ear. A Thousand Lives glows with a gauzy shimmer that hints at dream pop without abandoning the band’s post punk spine. Even when the tempo dips, the tension stays.
The five of them play like a unit. McGovern’s voice carries both grit and care, and he sounds unafraid to let the mask slip. Guitarists Damien Tuit and Cathal Roper thread lines that feel carefully drawn, more chorus and texture than brute distortion. Little synth smudges and electronic pulses step in at key moments. It is not showy, just quietly modern, and it suits them. The Stars Will Leave Their Stage, one of the record’s most haunting moments, hangs on restraint. The pay off comes not from a massive blow up, but from the way the band holds the note and lets the lyric do the heavy lifting.
Congleton’s touch is all over the sonics. The drums hit hard, but the room around them is wide. Guitars bite, then bloom. Vocals are present and warm, close enough to feel the breath. He is a producer with a track record for sharpening a band’s shape without sanding off their character, and this mix of clarity and shadow works well here. It is the sound of a group who wanted detail, and got it.
Lyrically, the record circles self repair and the mess that comes with trying to get there. Love sits next to doubt. Comfort brushes against old ache. The title itself hints at a story of recovery that does not move in a straight line. The band have spoken in interviews about pushing their writing beyond the immediate gut punch of the first album, and you can hear that push in the way these songs unfold. They take longer routes. They let small images carry weight. It suits late night trams and early morning walks, when the city is quiet and you can actually listen.
Response to Gigi’s Recovery has been strong and deserved. Reviews from places like NME and The Guardian praised the ambition and the broader palette, noting how the band widened their range without going soft. Fans took to it as well, with Only Good Things and Return My Head becoming set list favourites fast. It feels like one of those records that will outlast its release cycle, the kind you recommend to someone who liked the first album but is ready for something more layered.
On wax, it sings. If you have been hunting for The Murder Capital vinyl, this is the one that shows the most dimension in their sound. The Gigi’s Recovery vinyl pressing brings out the low end thump and the shimmer on those guitars nicely, and the quieter passages have room to breathe. If you like to buy The Murder Capital records online, keep an eye on local shops. A Melbourne record store with a good curation will often file it next to the more cinematic end of post punk, and it belongs there. For those building a shelf of The Murder Capital albums on vinyl, it pairs beautifully with the rawer debut. And if you are browsing vinyl records Australia wide, this is a safe bet to throw in the cart when you want something that rewards repeat plays.
Gigi’s Recovery is not a victory lap. It is a recalibration that deepens what makes this band compelling. It respects the storm that brought them here, but it chooses weather with more light. Put it on, sit with it, and let it keep opening up.
