Roisin Murphy – Ruby Blue (The Echo Label) album review

Those expecting an album of disco floorfillers will leave disappointed. Following the runaway success of Boris Dlugosch's chart-shafting remix of 'Sing It Back' five years ago, Roisin Murphy's band Moloko suffered an identity crisis from which they never really recovered. 2001's Things To Make and Do album milked the oddpop cow, but 2003's scrappy Statues rightly passed most people by. On Ruby Blue, a newly solo Murphy claws back some ground on the far leftfield. Collaborating with experimental producer Herbert, she returns to the fertile soil which begat 1999's underrated I Am Not A Doctor. Found sound samples rub bony shoulders with jazz rhythms and Murphy’s still bewitching vocals; the result is like Solex and Laurie Anderson partying round Lali Puna's gaff. Worth the travail.

Charlie Ivens

originally appeared in The Fly magazine, June 2005 issue