Róisin Murphy – live at BBC 6 Music Festival, Bristol – February 12, 2016 – BBC 6 Music –
Róisín Marie Murphy (born 5 July 1973) is an Irish singer-songwriter and record producer. She first became known in the 1990s as one-half of the UK-Irish trip hop duo Moloko with her partner Mark Brydon. After the breakup of Moloko, Murphy embarked on a solo career, releasing her debut solo album, Ruby Blue, written and produced with experimental musician Matthew Herbert, to critical praise in 2005. Her second solo album, Overpowered, was released in 2007.
After an eight-year hiatus (which nonetheless included several singles, vocal features, and side projects), her third album Hairless Toys was released in 2015; it was subsequently nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and Ireland’s Choice Music Prize. The following year, she released her fourth album Take Her Up to Monto (2016). Throughout her career, she has received critical praise for her idiosyncratic music, fashion, and performance sensibilities.
In May 2014, Murphy released a six-track EP in the Italian language titled Mi Senti, featuring a new composition and previous Italian pop hits.Her third studio album, titled Hairless Toys, followed a year later, to positive reviews.
Regarding the album, Murphy wrote:
There was a desire to make an unquestionably refined record. It’s multi layered, electronic and live instrumentation, musically it goes to places most pop music never does. It’s emotionally bare and laced with irony. I definitely didn’t set out to make something unique per-se but […] it really is like nothing you’ve ever heard before. So it’s impossible to describe except to say… it’s heartfelt.
A new album, titled Take Her Up to Monto, was released on 8 July 2016. It was recorded during the same sessions as Murphy’s 2015 album Hairless Toys, and included long-time collaborator and producer Eddie Stevens. The title is derived from an Irish folk song of the same name, popularized by The Dubliners in the 1960s, which Murphy’s father sang to her as a child. It was followed by a number of European festival dates and a number of North American shows.
Through 2018, a series of four 12-inch discs were released on The Vinyl Factory. Consisting of eight original songs in total, they were produced by Maurice Fulton in a House style. Each clock in at around 6 minutes, and all the A-sides were made into videos directed by Murphy herself.
Back to 2016 with this live set from the BBC 6 Music Festival in Bristol – recorded live on February 12, 2016 by BBC 6 Music.
