Smidley Announces Third Studio Album, ‘Murphy Horse’

Cover art for Murphy Horse.

With a submarine pitch and music video in tow, St. Louis indie rocker Smidley announced the Sept. 25 release of his third solo album, Murphy Horse, Wednesday night.

Conor Murphy, the voice behind Smidley and frontman of the now-dormant Midwest emo band Foxing, hit the announcement out of the park after throwing the first pitch at Wednesday’s St. Louis Cardinals game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Murphy Horse is set to be a 10-track record that builds upon the indie folk foundations of Smidley’s previous LPs with a mix of shoegaze, psychedelic, and '80s rock influences.

Accompanying the album announcement is lead single “Capstone,” featuring Lucy Dacus as the first of multiple collaborators on the record, including Shinra Knives, Adam Schatz of Japanese Breakfast, and Brooks Tipton of Manchester Orchestra. “Capstone” is an oddball, yet undeniably swaggering, love song brimming with funky bass lines and dense post-chorus harmonies. Wispy horn lines and a smattering of hand drums match Dacus’s easy alto serenade in the second verse which, as the album’s introductory track, sets a sonically-nuanced tone for Murphy Horse.

Smidley also released a grainy, trippy music video for “Capstone,” complete with a choir of friends and Dacus broadcasted through a box television.

Watch the music video for “Capstone” on YouTube.

After finding his footing during the 2010s in Foxing, Murphy Horse marks Murphy’s third project as Smidley since releasing his first two solo albums in 2017 and 2022, respectively. He said his work as Smidley is usually “either a reaction to Foxing or something [he] learned from it.”

In addition to the album’s Sept. 25 release, Murphy will be joined by Foxing’s bassist Brett Torrence as Smidley opens for Lucy Dacus in July and Ratboys in October. Smidley will also be playing an album release show at St. Louis’s Off Broadway on Sept. 19.