Love Fame Tragedy, Backflip | Track Review 🎵

Love Fame Tragedy, the solo project of Matthew “Murph” Murphy (The Wombats), drops a superb second single, “Backflip,” from his forthcoming EP.

“When I’m fading in a cheap hotel / Is it worth it to break our necks for this? / We’re a poorly timed backflip.” Ah, the frontman of The Wombats has gone solo – well, he’s releasing his first solo project that is!  That would be Matthew “Murph” Murphy, who also serves as the guitarist of the indie-pop trio.  The solo project isn’t under Murphy’s name, but rather Love Fame Tragedy.  LFT’s debut EP, I Don’t Want to Play the Victim, But I’m Really Good at It arrives September 13. Leading up to the release of the EP (arrives via Good Soldier), Murphy released his debut single, “My Cheating Heart”, and a truly compelling second single, “Backflip.”

 Cutting straight to the chase, with “Backflip,” Love Fame Tragedy gives listeners the ‘whole package.’  The single is indeed “the cat’s meow.” A number of excellent musical cues make “Backflip” pretty sick.  The record commences with a brief enigmatic intro, before settling in with a hard-hitting beat and a robust, distorted bass line. Safe to say, the production (Dave Priddy, Gustav Nyström, and Mark Crew) is pretty sick. Of course, those commanding, distorted vocals by Matthew “Murph” Murphy fuel the song – he sounds simply marvelous.  Even with the distortion turned up on his pipes, Murphy gives listener a nice blend of his mid-register, as well as his upper-tenor with some sweet falsetto. Those distorted vocals are clearer and more commanding on the chorus, which is a thoughtful contrast.

Beyond superb production and top-notch vocals, the songwriting is a selling point.  There are two relatively short, but effective verses, followed by a catchy, but brief pre-chorus (“Been thinking about us all of the time / I’ve been thinking about us, are we going blind?”), and a lengthier, yet infectious chorus.  The end of the chorus was excerpted at the beginning of this review, while the beginning of the chorus plays out something like this:

“You only want me when I’m stuck in your head
And you’re playing the victim again
When you’re wasted and you’re shattering to bits
I only want you when I’m lonely as hell…”

Final Thoughts

The songwriting tackles a ‘tried and true’ theme – love.  Love makes for many a captivating song, and “Backflip” is no different by Love Fame Tragedy.  It’s a triumph thanks to great production, high-flying vocals, and a relatable theme with solid songwriting.  Great song from the forthcoming EP.

Love Fame Tragedy • Backflip [Single] • Good Solider • Release: 8.6.19

Photo Credit: Good Soldier