Murray Attaway is a phantom. After years of silence, he's resurfaced with a new album, Tense Music Plays, released May 9th on Moon Ray Sound. The legendary Guadalcanal Diary lead singer and songwriter explains, "I kept meaning to do another record, but I'm easily distracted. It took me a while to focus."

With their four classic albums on Elektra Records, Guadalcanal Diary cemented their place in the pantheon of 80’s alternative bands. Rolling Stone described them as a "great second-generation Georgia band" defined by “searching earnestness”. Trouser Press opined, "Guadalcanal Diary distinguished itself from any smart, tuneful American guitar combos” with “Attaway's songs which reflect a bizarre variety of far-flung interests … with provocatively twisted lyrics.”

For Tense Music Plays, Attaway teamed up with veteran engineer and sometimes producer Mark Williams (Southern Culture on the Skids, Joe Walsh, Pat DiNizio, Tammy Faye Bakker.) "When Mark got involved, that's when I knew it would become a real record. Mark is a consummate pro, with credits on countless albums, so I had to get myself ‘back in shape’".

Murray spent two years writing and arranging the songs for Tense Music Plays. The whole album was tracked in his home studio with Attaway playing almost all the instruments. “I wasn't targeting any particular listener during the sessions. I was thinking of a record that, if I heard it in passing, I would want to hear more." Tense Music Plays wanders through Murray Attaway's unique landscape, always staying close to the styles he's known for but creating a few new ones along the way. “It's always been my goal to do music that goes somewhere different, but it invariably ends up in my yard," Attaway says.

And that's a very good yard.