Alexi Murdoch’s headlining set next Saturday at Reynolds Theater will mark a return to familiar ground for the acoustic troubadour.
Murdoch, who has gone on to the sort of niche stardom that attends success in the indie music realm, studied English and philosophy at Duke before dropping out and moving to Los Angeles to live with a girlfriend. There’s little to suggest that his performance will be the happy homecoming befitting a celebrated alumnus.
In fact, that Murdoch ended up at Duke at all was somewhat fortuitous. Prior to his matriculation, he had met a Duke graduate while on a hiking trip in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville, NC—an area separated from the university by a distance of more than 200 miles.
“This guy, this climber I was with, he had studied at Duke and had said to me, ‘Let me show you my school,’” Murdoch recalls. “I guess, in my mind, I put the two together somehow.”
His initial impression of the school, then, bore little resemblance to the reality of life at Duke. Neither his upbringing—Murdoch was born in London but raised, by turn, in Greece and Scotland—nor his contemplative demeanor prepared him for the university’s aggressive, competitive culture.
“I had the notion that I’d be in this countryside setting—that it would be very studious, that people would be sitting in trees, reading by themselves,” Murdoch says. “Certainly, that’s not what it was.”
His characterization of Duke reveals the difficulty he had adapting to life as a student at the university. His lack of comfort with the social scene, though, was redeemed by an immersive education.
“There’s a brashness to the social scene, to the general attitude of the place, that almost forced me underground in some ways,” he said. “I ended up having maybe a better time of it, though, because I was so focused on what I was reading, which was quite fulfilling, academically.”
The impression of Murdoch as an undergraduate conforms well to the style he has developed on record since leaving Duke—a thoughtful, introspective brand of acoustic folk that has drawn comparisons to influential British artist Nick Drake. Like Drake, Murdoch primarily uses finger-picked guitar and piano in service of gentle, unobtrusive melodies.
His breakthrough came in Los Angeles in 2002, after tastemaking DJ Nic Harcourt began playing Murdoch’s self-produced debut EP, Four Songs, on his “Morning Becomes Eclectic” radio show on L.A. public radio station KCRW. Murdoch rebuffed the major label offers that soon followed. Without the contractual obligations of a record deal, he’s released music over the last decade on his own label—and at his own pace. He released his debut album Time Without Consequences on his own Zero Summer label in 2006, and waited another five years to put out sophomore LP Towards the Sun in March of this year.
“There’s this pressure to produce albums, in line with this market mentality, but it’s completely manufactured,” Murdoch says. “It’s not like we’re all in dire need of more albums. For my part, there’s life to get on with, as well.”
His approach to releasing music is borne out of a long-run perspective. But even in describing his creative objective, Murdoch has a keen sense of his own mortality.
“At the end of the day, whether I put out 50 albums or ten won’t matter,” he says. “You hope to break yourself down in the process of making even one, to strip away the excess and interference, and articulate what’s left as simply as you can—before you run out of time.”
Murdoch’s music holds this ethos closely. It’s sonically sparse, with simple melodies following lyrics that often read like romantic, minimalist prose. Murdoch’s literary bent means that he’s open to exploring forms of expression beyond the acoustic folk he’s built his career on thus far.
“Keeping the question of whether you want to continue making music open is critical to your survival,” he says. “I don’t think of music as something that defines me. What I really want is to be able to communicate.”
For now, though, his focus is on touring behind Towards the Sun. Murdoch hasn’t toured any more prolifically than he has recorded, but he believes the concert hall atmosphere of Reynolds Theater accentuates his style as a live performer.
“An auditorium is much better suited to what I’m trying to do, in comparison,” he says. “The rock club-type venues are the worst, because everything’s geared for the music to be amped up as loudly as possible.”
Opening for Murdoch at Reynolds next Saturday are the Durham-based alt-country group Mount Moriah, comprised of vocalist Heather McEntire and guitarist Jenks Miller. The two are fixtures in the Durham music scene—McEntire is part of the punk-rock trio Bellafea and occasionally lends vocals to Miller’s experimental psych-rock project Horseback—and had formerly played together as the indie pop outfit Un Deux Trois. But in Mount Moriah—which ties together traditions of country, folk and gospel music—McEntire believes that the two have found an ideal musical vehicle.
“Mount Moriah really plays to our strengths,” McEntire says. “Jenks’ guitar playing is suited to it, and for me, it’s a great outlet to write more personal, narrative songs.”
The group’s sound, displayed on the acclaimed, self-titled debut album released this May, is at once spiritual, emotional and immediate, reflecting their experience with a variety of disparate genres. Like Murdoch, McEntire feels that her band thrives in a space with the acoustics of Reynolds Theater.
“That kind of venue encourages a little more intimate energy,” she says. “Plus I tend to be a little less nervous—maybe because I can hear myself better.”
Director of Duke Performances Aaron Greenwald found Murdoch and Mount Moriah not just complementary of each other, but well-situated within Duke Performances’ fall season’s focus on artists with unique aesthetics.
“Maybe these artists are grounded in one genre, but there’s an openness to exploring others as well,” he said. “Alexi’s a folk musician, but he’s not hemmed into this folk sound. Mount Moriah, too—they’re drawing on a few different things and making this sort of ragged, punk-infused country music.”
Murdoch’s time as a Duke student, in particular, drew Greenwald’s attention—especially given the perception of the school’s lack of artistic accomplishment.
“I have to admit, it’s an interesting opportunity to bring someone who went to school here back for a performance,” he said. “So often, there’s this assumption that no one who went here made anything artistically fulfilling or rewarding.”
Alexi Murdoch and Mount Moriah will perform on Saturday, Oct. 22, at 8p.m. at Reynolds Auditorium. Tickets are available through Duke Performances’ website.
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