Apparently Paul Murphy just doesn’t believe in sophomore slumps. Before leading Wintersleep on their widely acclaimed second offering, he fronted your choice for this year’s Best Local Album, Kary’s Light. The album is a dark and ethereal offering that submerges the listener into its combination of nightmare imagery, grinding riffs and crashing rhythms. Never letting up to a lighter ground, the disc is anything but what its colourful package and title suggest. It’s the manifestation of a thought explored too deeply and the resulting, unwanted, realization. “I’m really happy with the record,” says a remarkably pleasant Murphy. “Recording it was a really fun process.” While Kary is on hiatus, Murphy doesn’t rule out the chance of the band releasing new material. “I can’t see us ever becoming a serious band again, but as long as people are writing songs, I wouldn’t be opposed to doing something again.”
Runners-up: The Pools, Side of the Road (independent); Jimmy Swift Band, The Rebirth of Hooch (Below Me)
