Murder By Death – “Lost River” (MP3)

“My Hill” segues into the shuffling drum patterns of “Lost River”, the slowly building music evoking the watery feel of its title. The twinkling piano drifts on the surface, a chugging guitar serves as the undercurrent and the swaying violin and cello lap against the riverbanks. “Hush now, creature / Dry your eyes / I know a place / Where a body can hide,” Turla intones comfortingly, though his intent is ambiguous—is the place he speaks of a location for retreat, or a dumping ground for an inconvenient corpse? “Though my days are over / You know where I’ll be / Swim that lost river to me,” Turla continues in the chorus, supported by the ghostly vocals of guest Samantha Crain, personifying a drowned lover beckoning to a mate on the shore to join him in the deep. This is romanticism as done by Murder By Death, the most endearing sentiment laced with the morbid, and yet, when the wave-breaking crescendo hits, it’s inescapably moving.

— Review of Murder By Death: Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon.