The Murder Capital, Cusk at HERE at Outernet, London 2025

“Cusk is a Band Please Take Us With You” adorns the hack the stage, the whole width of Here at Outernet. My understanding is that Cusk are a relatively new band on the scene fronted by actress Esmé Creed-Miles. This is the first time these songs have been performed live in this form, and they’ve not been released yet. Cusk plays the kind of music that I love; the opening numbers start slow and build into songs that take an emotional toll. They’re benefiting from the superb sound in the room tonight, with intricate guitar parts, dynamic drums and violin parts wound into the mix but with everything audible. Thirty minutes pass quickly and the band leave a quickly filling room wishing for more. If they can bottle the sound of their set tonight and get it out there, then they’re a band to keep on the radar. Phenomenal stuff.

Technically, it’s not quite sold out tonight for Dublin’s The Murder Capital, but I’m honestly not sure where you’d put anyone else; it’s properly heaving downstairs and with crowds around every balcony upstairs. The atmosphere is already incredible, and the occasional shots of the crowd on the giant screen behind the band somehow add to the experience. The Murder Capital put out their newest record, Blindness, in February, and tonight is a set heavy in music from said record – they manage to fit ten of the eleven tracks into the roughly hour-and-a-half set (amongst earlier tracks). I doubt anyone is upset about how prominently new material features, as a record, this album may well be (in my opinion) their best yet. Musically, it’s incredible, hard-hitting and vocally it’s perfect. They open the set with The Fall, which sounds even more moving performed live than it does on record – the quick transition between an assault of guitar and drums into a quiet section and back again hits hard.

After a few tracks, the middle of the crowd has livened up into a swirling sea of bodies crashing into each other, everyone seems gripped by the music. The Stars Will Leave Their Stage from Gigi’s Recovery sounds haunting live, the weird tremolo effect that runs through the intro and the verse is a fairly interesting feature in the song, and the guitars at times wouldn’t feel out of place on a Radiohead record. Moonshot is the track I’ve been most looking forward to hearing live – even on record, it’s a flurry of energy layered with feedback and energetic drums, but live, this is triumphant. Love of Country gets an outing at the end of the set too, a standout one on record and an impressive one live due to its more minimal instrumentation and its prominent vocals and storytelling.

Tonight feels like a night that people will talk about in a few years when The Murder Capital are playing even bigger venues because, between the quality of the performance (not to mention the quality of the new songs!) and the response from an incredibly busy HERE at Outernet crowd, clearly they’re a band going places. While some elements of their sound come close to their contemporaries, there’s a ton of unique elements which make them stand out. The electronic elements and the unconventional guitar playing create something unique while frontman James McGovern connects with the crowd well live.