Although he had grown up in an Irish-Catholic household. Murphy
converted to Islam in the 1990s, eventually moving to Turkey with his
wife. A subsequent Middle Eastern influence can be heard in his later
albums. In particular, Murphy has been inspired by the mysticism of
Sufism. 1992's Holy Smoke mixed some traditional Turkish influences into
the music while continuing the sound pioneered on Deep.
The album was
unable to recapture the momentum of Deep, and in the post-grunge
alternative landscape, the more pop-flavored album seemed anachronistic,
and the choice of the odd, disheveled-Murphy Anton Corbijn photo used
on the cover baffled many fans. In 1995, Murphy embraced a lower-key,
ambient pop sound for Cascade, featuring producer Pascal Gabriel, guest
work from "infinite guitarist" Michael Brook, and overall a much
stronger incorporation of electronics.
This album was also to be his
last major collaboration with Paul Statham, who departed to form Peach
Union with Pascal Gabriel and eventually write songs for Dido and Kylie
Minogue. Cascade was also Murphy's last original release for Beggar's
Banquet records, which had been his label since Bauhaus. Shortly after
this departure, Murphy recorded the Recall EP for the newly-formed Red
Ant records, featuring a few new songs and some new, heavily electronic
versions of older material, reworked in conjunction with Sascha
Konietzko, Bill Rieflin and Tim Skold of the band KMFDM. Once again, he
became label-mates with former Bauhaus alums Love and Rockets, who had
also signed to Red Ant. This generated a significant number of rumours
regarding a possible reformation of Bauhaus.
While Red Ant quickly
folded, Bauhaus did reform in 1998 for the Resurrection tour, one
performance of which (at the Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City) was
recorded and released on DVD by Metropolis Records as Gotham. The tour
was a success, although Murphy refused to perform certain songs, because
of his adherence to Islam, such as "Stigmata Martyr" and "St. Vitus'
Dance." He cited their religious overtones as objectionable.
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