Murder by Death – Lost River
2013 · Directed by Gabe Darling
7K Likes
Best comments
1.“When I saw the band name 'Murder by Death,' I was expecting some metal... but I like it.”
More comments
- 2.“I punched my tears in the face, and they still came out. God damn you, Murder by Death. Stop (not) being so good.”
- 3.“I met a girl at a Subway on my lunch break – one of the rare times I had it in me to talk to a stranger. I picked her up later that night on my motorcycle and took her to a bridge by a little peninsula in a river. We talked by the water for four or five hours. She showed me this beautiful song. Nothing came of it after that night, but it's such a fond memory.”
The story
Murder by Death is a band from Bloomington, Indiana, named after a 1976 movie, and they call their own sound dark whiskey devil music. Adam Turla sings in a low baritone that gets compared to Johnny Cash a lot, and Sarah Balliet's cello has been part of the band since day one. Lost River is track two on Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon, their 2012 album produced with John Congleton, with Samantha Crain on vocals. Paste called it soul-lifting, the first sign the band was opening up its sound. The album became their biggest, reaching number 76 on the Billboard 200.
For the video, animator Gabe Darling made a short film about a doomed romance: two lost lovers who finally find each other again, but only after they've drowned. One reviewer singled out its rich textures and its bittersweet mood. It's a ghost story where the happy ending happens underwater. Murder ballad people would call that a win.
