Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, in the late 1970s, John Murry has travelled a tortuous route: experiences of drug dependency as a struggling musician in San Francisco filtered through his garlanded 2012 debut album, The Graceless Age, and how he arrived in Kilkenny a few years ago is another intriguing chapter in his story. Recorded in the Toronto studio of Michael Timmins (Cowboy Junkies), and assisted by (among others) Cait O'Riordan, A Short History of Decay is a collection of intensely personal songs that highlight Murry's kinship with the likes of Marks Lanegan and Linkous. "I'm the bet that never wins," sings Murry on The Wrong Man, and that is, mostly, the narrative template of a disquieting, persuasive record that looks into its soul and doesn't like what it sees.

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