Creativity simply cannot be forced and often requires tremendous patience. Unfortunately, when you are a musician on a record label, there are pressures to turn in an album, even if you are not ready. This is not the best environment for the creative mind. Fortunately for Cornelia Murr, she is part of a boutique record label called 22TWENTY, which, by their own proclamation, has been letting artists be weird since 2018.
With the freedom to create at her own pace, Murr initially put out her self-produced (with My Morning Jacket’s Jim James) 2018 debut album, Lake Tears of the Clouds. A dreamy collection of Pop and Folk songs, the inspiration was allegedly derived from gazing out into the wide open landscapes of Upstate New York. Something you can feel in the mood, it would not be until four years later that Murr re-emerged with a bundle of new songs as the 2022 EP Corridor. This is yet another mesmerizing dive into Murr’s world, but amazingly enough, she has not released a full-length album in six years.
A long gap of time, as mentioned, sometimes the music cannot be forced, and the inspiration will arrive in unexpected places. Thinking about this, Murr is quite a unique individual, being born in London, raised in richly historic Hertfordshire, and spending a good deal of time in New York. Holding dual citizenship between England and the United States, Murr has also been a well-traveled young lady of the North American continent, having explored the Northeast, Rocky Mountains, as well as the West Coast.
So, what does any of this have to do with her and the music? Well, there is no question that these experiences have provided her insight into her surroundings, as well as herself. Case in point, in more recent times, Murr found herself in the unlikely place of Red Cloud, Nebraska, where she spent a good portion of time restoring an abandoned house. Something that allowed time for deep reflection; somewhere in between peeling back layers of history in this old house, she found something in herself that provoked new music… which is her brand new studio album, Run to the Center.
The long overdue follow-up to 2018’s Lake Tears of the Clouds, Run to the Center, arrives on February 28, 2025, through 22TWENTY and is perfectly titled since Nebraska is pretty much as a dead center in the North American continent as one can get. With that in mind, Murr used her work on the old house as a form of self-reflection into who she is, who she wants to be, and what she will do to get there. Feelings that can make the best of us anxious while young; it is funny how we feel we have all the time in the world to do what we want, but then when we truly become an adult in our early thirties, a switch is turned on that invokes a sense of urgency.
There is a lot to think about, but it is clear that Murr applied these feelings to this follow-up album, which is best described as a haunting and alluring mix of Folk and Ambient Pop. Consisting of ten songs, the instrumentation is a rich mix of synthesizers, lively drum beats, melodic guitars, and vibrating bass guitar. Full of sensational, shimmering textures that are three-dimensional, it almost feels like you are watching the world go by as you listen to each of these tracks.
With that in mind, Murr’s voice over the top of each piece of music is a delightful exclamation point that invites you into vivid storytelling. With a highly emotive vocal style, some may find flickers of Annie Lennox or Kate Bush in Murr’s tender but powerful voice.
In truth, the best way to describe Run to the Center is a flawless brand of Art Rock that is inventive, sensual, and captivating. This is blanketed throughout the record, but some big moments would have to include the singles “Skylight,” “Pushing East,” and “How Do You Get By.” However, the smoothness of “In the Wings,” the dream-like quality of “Spiral of Beauty,” and the more stripped-back “This Will All Change” also keep you fully enthralled.
Overall, if you are a fan of Pop Rock, which is artistic and thoughtful, Cornelia Murr’s Run to the Center will be an exciting discovery. That is why Cryptic Rock gives this album 4 out of 5 stars.
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