Róisín Murphy has been doing her thing for awhile, so it’s hard to sum up her career. But it’s never enough and the time is now. For a queer take on her career, watch this wonderful documentary film about Róisín by underground performers and clubbers in San Francisco. It seems she was born to be Queen!
Róisín Murphy is an odd one, never predictable, her twenty year career from the outside could seem a little unfocused. “I happened upon this “job” quite by chance and I have always thought it was because of my wayward creativity it happened at all, so I’ll always put the madness first, the open-ness, because that’s how it all started.”
Moloko & Ruby Blue
“Do you like my tight sweater?”
When Róisín Murphy walked up to Mark Brydon and uttered the line “Do you like my tight sweater? See how it fits my body,” a band was born. “I met Mark at a dirty basement party in Sheffield and I freaked him out a bit and turned him on a bit, and I guess that`s the effect I’ve tried to have on people throughout the rest of my career.”
‘Familiar Feeling’ was recorded by Moloko in 2002 and released in 2003 on their album Statues, and peaked at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart. From 1995 until 2000 Moloko steadily became more and more established. The huge success of ‘Sing It Back’ brought them to much larger stages around the world, but it also put new pressures on the duo. They broke up romantically but managed to make one last record together, the beautiful and heart-broken ‘Statues’. After a successful solo career, Roisin has said out of all her videos, she enjoyed shooting this one the most.
When Róisín was writing Ruby Blue it was initially hard to separate herself from Moloko and embrace her power as a solo artist. However, when she got into the groove, it just flowed. “On the first day we wrote ‘If We’re In Love’ and on and on we went sampling my belongings, using the sounds of my life and making a album like that, inside-out and all the time, Matt holding me up and making me feel protected by all the inherent authenticity of his “method”.” Then it was onward again to EMI and a promised Pop record.
