As Róisín Murphy approaches her 30th year in the music industry, the former Moloko frontwoman and solo global dance music icon has returned with yet another smash album, Hit Parade. Staying true to form, it’s unlike anything you’ve heard before and gives new meaning to the word artistry.
Murphy has never shied away from collaborating with some of music’s most innovative talents and this album only continues on that path, thanks to her collaborative work with German soundsmith DJ Koze. Experimentation and staying outside of all that is conventional seems to come naturally to Murphy and Hit Parade demonstrates this perfectly.
Kind, articulate and riding high fresh off of Hit Parade’s release, Murphy recently took time out of her busy schedule to talk to me about all things music, collaborating with others and the importance of being an ever-evolving woman.
Thank you so much for joining me today. Hit Parade is doing great things on the charts around the globe. How does that feel nearly three decades into your career?
Amazing! Yeah, I mean, the joy of making it was all about how all of this amazing music was pouring into my life at the same time. And, and to be, yeah, like three decades in and that to be happening with all this vibrant music around you, that’s the joy you hear on the record, I think.
100%. I’m obsessed with the album. I’ve got to get it all out in the open—I’m going to fan girl, fan boy, fan whatever for the moment, but I just love it and there is more to come with my love for it in a moment. It’s brilliant, it’s absolutely amazing.
Thank you.
How would you describe Hit Parade and why do you think it has resonated with so many people thus far?
Well, it’s value for money, for starters. You’ve got a lot going on in there. I think that you’ll be able to listen to it over and over again and still get more out of it. It’s like a kind of wonderland, really. Full of rabbit holes to go down and yeah, I think it’s ever giving. Because even to me now, as I listen to it, it just gets to be a richer record. The more life goes past it, and I think it’s going to be one of those records that seeds itself quite strongly in the beginning and then just grows and grows beyond that, because I think that you can hold it close to your heart, you know. It’s been made with so much heart.
Definitely. Six years in the making, isn’t it?
Yes. There is so much openness to what came along. It’s a very trivial expression I think of the two of us working together.
Listen to the Album:
Incredible. Speaking of the two of you, is it DJ Koze (pronounced Kot-see)? Am I pronouncing it correctly?
Well that’s sort of more the German way, but I say Koze (pronounced cozy).
Koze, I think that’s really cute. My German grandmother would kill me for not being able to pronounce it correctly.
A lot of people call him Koze, actually. He has many names, many ways of saying his name.
You worked with DJ Koze on this album remotely, him in Hamburg and you in London. What were the logistics involved with creating an album this way? Was there more freedom of expression and artistry with being in different places?
There were no logistics. It was really when we felt like it. I made two tracks for his album a few years ago. His album’s called Knock, Knock and I think my two were the last to fall into place for the record and we just continued on. He had nothing to do then, he’d finished his album and it was out, and we continued on and he just sent me tracks and he said to me “We’ll just keep going and we’ll make you a record. But there has to be no time pressure, there has to be no pressure of you coming to me and telling me that you need to do this type of record or that type of record. We have to just delve in and see what happens.”
And it really was very sporadic for all those years. Months and months and months could go by and nothing would happen. And then you’d have a couple of days where you finished off a couple of tracks and there’d be a bit of backwards and forwards and we’d get somewhere and then it would just stop again. Because we were both very busy. I had no time pressure, really, because I already had a fairly full dance card as far as putting out records.
So I had no spot when I was thinking, “oh no, I really need a record now.” I just let it happen and that’s also partly why it had to be remote. Because I had to be there at the drop of a hat whenever we felt like it and could get round to it. So I might write stuff when I felt like it and send it to him and he might work on it that day, or he might leave it for a while before he worked on it. There were no logistics.
That’s interesting. You reference “sporadic” and “feeling like it,” things that really play into how organic the whole album is. Although at the beginning, you mentioned it’s like a rabbit hole, you had gone into so many different areas. It really comes across when you word it in that way, sporadic, and that you just went with the flow. It comes across as a very organically beautiful album.
Yeah, I think that’s down to some of the instrumentation that’s been put on in later stages of the record, that weren’t there necessarily in the backing tracks that I had originally. So with something like “CooCool,” there is added guitars and stuff in there that make it very, very organic and very harmonic. There are just very unusual harmonic things in there that are just amazing. It’s amazing considering that he’s not really a musician. It’s all his ears. He’s got the most sensitive ears in the whole world—that sounds good, that doesn’t sound good, that stays, that goes in the bin. I suppose it’s as simple as that, really.
It is. Yeah, I think that’s it. That’s raw talent really, isn’t it?
Yes.
So we know that DJ Koze is an incredible DJ, but he also produced and co-wrote all 13 tracks with you on Hit Parade. Considering his pedigree with hip-hop and techno, did he bring any of these elements to the album and if so, how did they end up influencing the sound?
Yeah! All those things are there. We were completely free to explore whatever genre felt right in the moment. Sometimes things could go from one genre to another, very clearly. Something like “Two Ways” which was like a nice country/soul thing, and then at one point [breaks into song, Two ways to pass the time/ In my life] with the lovely guitars and stuff. And then it turned into that monster on there [laughs].
There are so many incredible moments on Hit Parade, but in my review of the album, I made specific mention of the run from track 7 (“Fader”) through to track 10 (“Can’t Replicate”). The euphoria I feel listening to “Free Will,” “You Knew” and “Can’t Replicate”—each track lasting from six to seven minutes—is like being in a club immersed solely in the music. How did you get to this and can we expect some club remixes?
There are remixes. They are wonderful. Hopefully they’ll come out soon. But not by Koze, and I don’t think he can. I really don’t think he’s got it in him. The way he works is he finds the sculpture in the rock, you know. It’s a very deep process, I think for him, and quite traumatic in some ways. But he’s done it, you know. The songs aren’t easy to remix, because he has made them as good as they can be, you know.
All of your albums, both with Moloko and as a solo artist, have had a massive impact on my musical education. I saw you live in Sydney in 2008 at The Metro and that was a revelation. Overpowered (2007) transformed me in a way I will never be able to explain and at such a poignant time in my life. Hit Parade feels like such an organic extension of this transformation. Is there a common thread for you that connects all of your albums?
There’s lots of common threads, I think. Certainly through the lyrical content. I’m often exploring ideas of individualism and choice, and I show strength in the lyrics, but I also show vulnerability. I often look at the ways in which one has to drop one’s guard to love and to actually live right. The philosophical stuff goes right through, I think, from the beginning of Moloko. And then there’s humor and the use of humor in love, in sensuality. There’s a looking at love in a scientific way. In “Overpowered” obviously, that was very obvious, whereas I think in “CooCool” that was like the flip side of that. Which is almost like the biological science framework when you are talking about these uncontrollable sounds that come from these birds, ‘cause they are in love. This thing that’s programmed, if you like.
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In 2008 you released the iTunes Live: London Sessions, a stripped-back album that features the most stunning version of “Let Me Know.”
I must listen to that. It’s a long time since I’ve heard that album.
I listen to that album nearly every week, it’s such a beautiful album. I have noticed of late that you have been doing some stripped-back shows. Allowing the production to take a back seat and putting your voice and words firmly in the spotlight must also be quite a vulnerable experience. What do these stripped-back versions give you from a performance perspective?
It’s a very different kind of performance. Much closer, I can really act through the songs like an actress. So that’s what it all hinges on, the actual strength of the songs. And then the strength of the delivery both for myself and the musicians.
I have so many, many songs now you know, that it is actually a delight to kind of pluck them from places and easily and swiftly do these versions that are very stripped down, very much easier to achieve than what I do in the live show. Which sometimes takes weeks of programming even with the new stuff, weeks of rehearsals. But this is like a couple of days to pull together a little set and it’s such a joy to kind of pick and choose the songs, and then to have this intimacy with the songs and the singing and the voice.
I think that’s always a challenge when you’re working with the kinds of records that I work on, where there’s sometimes a lot of production going on, a lot of thought going into all sorts of other things. I think that something that Koze has in common with Matthew Herbert, who produced my first album (2005’s Ruby Blue), is that they were both able to really prioritize the voice. Sort of build everything around the voice and to record it and to create a studio sound around it, that just makes it fucking better, you know? Iconic. That’s real skill and it’s not that easily found in guys who make dance music. There is something there on both of those records that is there when I am singing with a guitarist and the voice is really in your face and very, very expressive.
Agreed. On a side note, a friend of mine had really only known you from Moloko and I played him one of your solo songs—I think it was “Let Me Know”—and he said, “oh my god, the words!” I found that interesting, because you are primarily known as a dance artist, but it was so beautiful to allow someone else to listen to your music and where it came from, from your heart, and discover how powerful your lyrical content is.
Why, thank you. I do think a lot about the lyrics.
I can tell.
They are a big part of what I do. A prominent area of creation for me. And I put a lot into them, I know a good lyric when I hear it—I’m a lyric connoisseur. And it doesn’t always have to be clever you know, it’s funny the way these things bounce around. It’s like sometimes you get too clever and then you remind yourself it doesn’t have to be clever to actually be clever. Basically I am trying to express that I am a real person. I’m a complex person. I’m sometimes a funny person, I'm sometimes a sad person and so on and so on. That’s the balance I am trying to get in, in every song. There’s a tension, it’s about capturing a tension as well, between parts of yourself.
One-dimensional is a term I would never apply to you. How and where do you draw upon the inspiration and creation for your music, while always keeping it fresh and new? Your songs are intrinsically you and the listener instantly knows they’re Roisin Murphy songs, it’s just so authentic. How do you do it?
I just work with great people, I think that’s the main thing. The choice of collaborators—or the choice of how to go about a record initially—is the most important nugget of everything. It really is how I started as well, you know, I accidentally fell into it. I was just chatting shit on one of my friend’s tracks and didn’t know what I was doing. I like the feeling of not knowing what I’m doing. I like the feeling of learning as I go along. l don’t like to be out of my depth, but somehow it’s comforting, because I know that I’ll stretch myself and that I will give you that thing that’s fresh and new, if that’s the feeling that I’ve got.
So, yeah, I guess there’s a bravery about that as well. And then I am also patient with those collaborators and open with them, and they sense that in me and that makes them give even more to me.
Speaking of creation—how did the artwork for the album take form and how does it connect with the overall themes and vibes of the music?
Tenuously, I suppose, just in terms of the feeling I just had looking at Beth Frey’s original artworks which I kind of bought up and then shoved myself into. They are very uncanny, they’re something that you can look at again and again, they are full of questions. That it’s also very sensual, somehow touchable, somehow sensorial, in the way that the music also is.
I’m looking always to make artwork first and foremost that lives up to the name. That it is artwork and not just packaging. I suppose to me it feels more like a Butthole Surfers album cover than a pop star’s cover, but then that was always my favorite album cover, you know, Locust Abortion Technician. When I was a kid, I was just picking up this fucking weird object and looking at it again and again and again, your mates coming round and going “woohoo, what’s that? That’s really weird” and that’s what I wanted from this album cover.
Dance music is forever evolving and this can easily be seen across your canon of work. Where do you see Hit Parade in terms of this evolution and also the future of your music?
Well, I don’t know. That’s a good question. I don’t think we try to fit it into the evolution of dance music, you know, something like the height of it, which would be “Can’t Replicate,” which came very naturally as well. It came to us supernaturally and then it was perfect to take the album to its zenith with. We were crafting an album all along and with moments of encapsulated joy, yes, but all along the songs connect into this one big, as I say, universe that you can jump into. It’s out there in the multiverse.
I think if you brought this question up to Koze, he’d be very anxious about it, actually. Following, say, Róisín Machine or you know, trying to do a hit dance record, this is definitely not the way he works. Those things, when he has them, I think they come out and they just gurgitate. They just come out of him, along with all his other stuff.
You’ve announced a tour for early next year. What can audiences expect to experience at your upcoming shows? Are you planning to incorporate any new dimensions of your live performance that we maybe haven’t witnessed before?
Well, I am, you know, an ever-changing woman and that is always reflected in the shows. And I am sure there will be changes, but it’s something that’s not easy for me to put my finger on until I start it again, how those changes will be seen. But I am sure they will be.
What have we got? We’ve got the lot. We’ve got the light shows, we’ve got the visuals, we’ve got a fantastic band, we’ve got old songs, new songs, something for everyone. Yeah, it’s elevated from the shows we were doing on the last album for sure, it’s taking it up a notch, lighting-wise and visually and all that. We’ve got a slightly bigger band than we had before, we make an immense sound, an incredible sound, all the musicians are able to swap musical instruments and play different things.
In your show in Sydney, I believe your first solo tour in 2008, at one point in the show, one of the background visuals were these enormous clapping hands, almost like a Keith Haring print.
Yeah, I remember that.
I loved that visual. You know those things that just stay in your mind forever? That’s one of those moments and I really want to relive new moments with your music, so when you come to Australia, please let me know and I’ll get you all the wine and chocolates you need, ‘cause we make good stuff here!
I’d love to!
Róisín, a final question. What are your five all-time favorite albums?
Well, I mean I don’t have five all-time favorite albums, but off the top of my head: Veedon Fleece by Van Morrison, it even has a song on it called the “Streets of Arklow,” where I’m from. I’m from Arklow in Ireland. It’s a masterpiece of a record, beautifully orchestrated. It’s very soulful, a very unique record. Very beautiful. I think it’s probably my favorite Van album. I love to listen to his live stuff, ‘cause it makes me feel that he likes singing, honestly. You know, he’s a Celtic soul and so am I.
Ok, the next one, shall we put in Locust Abortion Technician by Butthole Surfers? It is very good and it has got an excellent album cover, both front and back, very scary. Definitely had it a little bit in mind when I was making the art for Hit Parade.
And then, can I do a compilation? Can I do like a Mastercuts? Mastercuts Rare Groove. I would dance to all their records in the clubs, but I wasn’t able to get them until Mastercuts put them all together on this beautiful compilation years and years and years ago. I didn’t really know what I was dancing to or what it was called or what Rare Groove was, but it taught me a lesson and it’s one of the albums I’ve played over and over and over again.
Oh yeah, next album, Rhythm & Sound their long player called See Mi Yah, it’s all like, eleven tracks and they are all more or less the same rhythm track. But they’ve all got different vocalists coming in and out, like it’s a masterclass of vocalists, I mean, they are just unbelievable. The rhythm track itself is so sublime and I play that a lot. It takes my heart rate down. It’s an amazing piece of work and although it seems really simple, it took them years to do because of the way it was done technically. That’s why it sounds so beautiful, it’s just the most beautiful sounding thing you’ve ever heard.
Now how many more have I got?
One more.
I’ll go with, Sonic Youth’s Sister. I listened to it the other day and it reminded me of being a kid again, and it’s one of their best records. It’s very cool and very sexy, very good for losing your shit too. I saw Sonic Youth when I was 14, it changed my life. I went to see them live, well, it didn’t change my life, but it was a turning point. I just got music obsessed after that, totally music obsessed. All my friends were music obsessed, that’s all we wanted to do, was to buy, think about and talk about music for years after that.
I was exactly the same. Róisín, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today, I really appreciate it.
Thank you, it was an absolute pleasure.
Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited from the original transcript for length and clarity.
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