Peter Murphy — Deep
album review

LYRICS FROM "DEEP OCEAN VAST SEA"
Deep ocean, vast sea . . .
Deep ocean, vast sea . . .
Your ocean heart, clothed in respect and sweet caress my uneasy mind;
You dip and you swell, float and you find, and sweet caress my uneasy mind.
Deep ocean, vast sea . . .
Deep ocean, vast sea . . .
That's me.

Album Review: Peter Murphy begins Deep with the song "Deep Ocean Vast Sea," which is full of low tones, guitars, gloss, and a relentless bassline, all intended to wash over your ears and submerge you into the synth-rock world that Murphy shared with the likes of The Smiths and Depeche Mode back in the late 1980s. Murphy is at his best in this hi-fi low-sung world, and the top track on the album, "Seven Veils," falls into this category. It's more upbeat than "Deep Ocean Vast Sea," adding a mildly Middle Eastern sound to its rock base and a nice non-word hook that has a sound half-way between Seal and Midnight Oil. "Cuts You Up" features a minor-key violin line and some David Bowie-style seasoning, producing a song that became a big hit on the American modern rock charts. "A Strange Kind of Love" and "Marlene Dietrich's Favourite Poem" slow the pace down and are soothing without being boring. On most of the songs from Deep, the Wall of Sound-style production values add to the fullness of the music without making it sound cluttered. Deep was the peak of Peter Murphy's commercial success, at least as a solo artist. (He fronted the band Bauhaus earlier in his career.) Sales numbers don't always correctly point out an artist's best work, but in the case of Deep, they did reel in the prize catch.

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