Like many of us, Liam Murphy was feeling pretty beat down this winter. Murphy had just relocated to Milwaukee from Binghamton, N.Y., with his wife last fall to study anthropology at UWM, and the weather did everything in its power to make them regret that decision. And so when he wasn’t working, he passed the cold winter days by writing songs for his bedroom recording project Bordercholly, including “Cambridge Woods,” a bittersweet tribute to the Milwaukee neighborhood he’d fallen in love with before the city’s deep freeze set in.
“I wrote ‘Cambridge Woods’ during the second or third polar vortex after about 20 minutes face down on the rug trying to remember what it feels like to be outside,” Murphy recalls. “My wife and I were feeling homesick compounded by cabin fever, and the song helped me remember what I love about the neighborhood. Taking walks up the Oak Leaf Trail to the beer garden at Estabrook Park, crossing the bridge to Riverwest, just generally strolling around. The neighborhood has these great juxtapositions of dirty college apartments to beautifully kept family homes, forests and cars, gardens and asphalt, and all this beauty and grime right next to each other.
“If these idiosyncrasies weren’t enough, there’s even a house shaped like a boat,” he says. “It makes for awesome walks.”
“Cambridge Woods” is the first song from a short Bordercholly EP that Murphy plans to release soon. Murphy still plays in his Binghamton indie-rock band If Madrid, but he’s hoping to get better acquainted with the Milwaukee music scene as he gets settled in here.
“I’ve played a few open mic nights at Linneman’s, but otherwise haven’t played much in Milwaukee,” he says. “Hopefully I’ll find some more time this year to play some music.”
Stream “Cambridge Woods” below.
