Murder by Death, June 22

Saturday, June 22, 7 p.m.

Codfish Hollow Barn, 5013 288th Avenue, Maquoketa IA

With their 2022 album Spell/Bound lauded by Glide magazine for its "massively expansive, moody soundscape" that results in "a hauntingly beautiful record," the indie rockers of Murder by Death play a June 22 headlining concert at Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn, the group also praised by New Noise magazine for being a unit whose members “seemingly have no problem pushing the boundaries of their unique creativeness."

Its moniker taken from the Neil Simon murder-mystery spoof from 1976, Murder by Death was formed in 2000 – under the original band name Little Joe Gould – in Bloomington, Indiana, by guitarist Adam Turla and cellist Sarah Balliet (both of whom are still with the ensemble), percussionist Alexander Schrodt, keyboardist Vincent Edwards, and bassist Matt Armstrong. From its start, Murder by Death has played a range of music including instrumentals, rock, and alt-country, and has frequently employed the cello (with an electric cello for live shows) to create a Gothic sound with occasional Western references. Oftentimes, the band arranges themes such as whiskey and the devil into concept albums. The band's second album Who Will Survive, & What Will Be Left of Them?, for instance, describes a story in which the Satan wages war against a small village in Mexico. Murder by Death's fourth album Red of Tooth & Claw, meanwhile, was described by Turla as a “Homer’s Odyssey of revenge, only without the honorable character at the center.”

Since the 2002 release of the group's first studio LP Like the Exorcist, but More Breakdancing, Murder by Death has gone on to deliver 10 additional studio albums, among them 2006' In Bocca al Lupo, 2010's Good Morning, Magpie, and 2012's Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon, which became the highest-charting hit of the musicians' careers, reaching number 76 on the Billboard 200. For that album, Murder by Death – its lineup currently composed of Turla and Balliet, percussionists David Fountain and Dagan Thogerson, bass player Tyler Morse, and violinist Emma Tiemann – raised $187,048 through a Kickstarter campaign, employing the fundraising service again for 2015's Big Dark Love (raising $278,486) and 2018's The Other Shore (raising $327,407). As for the Kickstarter presale for Spell/Bound, it raised $440,439, making it, at the time, the seventh-highest funded Kickstarted project in the music category. Most recently, Murder by Death debuted 2023's As We Wish, which boasts six cover songs, one chosen by each band member, plus a bonus cover of TLC's "Creep,"

Murder by Death performs their Maquoketa engagement on June 22 with an additional set by Wildermiss, admission to the 8 p.m. concert is $30, and tickets are available by visiting CodfishHollowBarnstormers.com.