guccihighwaters’ third album for Epitaph, DEATH BY DESIRE is his boldest and most adventurous record to date—a result of the project’s mastermind Morgan Murphy taking the creative wheel and hitting the gas at 100 MPH, putting every element of his musical acumen into these 12 songs. After releasing joke’s on you in 2021—as well as the extensive touring that followed—Murphy felt creatively unsure of where to go next. ”I was in a standstill,” he explains. “I was putting out a lot of singles and doing sessions with producers and songwriters, and I wasn’t connecting with what I was making.”
Instead of throwing in the towel, Murphy got to work on writing and self-producing the luxurious alternative pop sound that would become DEATH BY DESIRE. “I locked myself in the studio every day and really just focused on reinventing myself,” he recalls. “I was making something that was untouched by anyone else. I knew it was gonna be a hard task, but it was also the only way for me to feel like I accomplished something that I love.”
Lyrically, Murphy dives deeper than ever before, embracing a “raw and honest” style that leaves no emotional stone unturned. “This record is about the dark side of things that are seen as bad or sinful—lust, greed, jealousy,” he explains. “I wanted to showcase what the dark side of being an artist can be. In the past, I hadn't really dipped into that aspect of myself too much, But for this record I wanted to get everything out there—even the bad feelings.”
The record’s inky R&B aesthetic—at once a logical progression from his previous releases and recalling the slithery, iridescent pop of artists like the Weeknd and Chase Atlantic—is a result of Murphy exercising full creative control across DEATH BY DESIRE. “I've been pretty hands-on throughout my whole career, but with joke’s on you I definitely branched out with other producers,” he states, before adding that a few outside collaborators—including fellow West Coast singer-songwriters TOOPOOR (who sings on the pulsing “IF LOOKS COULD KILL” and No Love For The Middle Child—pitched in on DEATH BY DESIRE as well.
“With this record, I was in control of everything. I wanted to fully trust myself and my ideas, and that progression ultimately resulted in my expressing the honesty of who I am as a creator. This is the rawest form of my art.” The glistening synths that kick the door open on “DESIRE” are ample evidence of Murphy’s tactile approach while producing this record; elsewhere, the beaming opening track “HIGH” was one of the first tracks written for DEATH BY DESIRE, and as such it opens the album to reveal a side of guccihighwaters that listeners may not have previously taken notice of. “This is the closest I’ve ever come to writing a happy song,” he explains while talking about the tune’s lyrical bent. “It’s about someone special to me. When we met, it instantly felt like the best drug you could ever dream of.”
“This album definitely showcases how far I've come in my own artistic abilities,” Murphy reflects while discussing how DEATH BY DESIRE is a snapshot of the moment that he finds himself in. “I'm still figuring out life—it's an ongoing journey of struggles that I've experienced—but there’s joy in this music too, because I've definitely become a happier person and more comfortable with myself.” That sense of self-discovery is undoubtedly streaked across this record, and it paves the way for more innovations from guccihighwaters to come.
