Music Spotlight by Daragh Mulligan

Roisin Murphy
Overpowered
(EMI)

For those of you that don’t know who Roisin Murphy is, she’s the former singer with the massive selling dance band Moloko (Sing it Back, The Time is Now, etc) and, more importantly, she’s the second most important thing to come out of Arklow after the Arklow Area Office (howya lads).

In the mid 80s, like many others, Roisin and her parents emigrated to Manchester to seek out a better life. After a few years her parents divorced and moved back to Ireland, but Roisin stayed on in England.

She moved to Sheffield and following a chance meeting at a party with Mark Brydon, the band Moloko was born (named after the drink in A Clockwork Orange) number ones came and went, massive tours came and went, massive collaborations came and went and then eventually in June 2005 her chance to stand alone came with release of her first solo album Ruby Blue. That album firmly established her a strong female solo artist, not just another band member or guest vocalist, but someone who’s sat down and put the graft in to write andproduce her own material (Are you listening X-Factor/You’re A Star wannabes).

Wednesday October 17th saw the release of her latest album, Overpowered, and, trust me on this, overpowered is exactly what I was when first heard it. I’ve spent a summer wading through some seriously dire albums and this gem pops up. It’s electronic, it’s balladic, it’s dancey, it’s rocky; in short, it’s everything.

The album launches off with the acidic title track Overpowered and then You Know Me Better and Checkin’ On Me groove along, followed by three tunes that will have you on the dancefloor Let Me Know (Murphy's current single), Movie Star and Primative.

On Scarlet Ribbons, she shows her sensitive side as she sings candidly about her father's love for her and how she was paired with her mother when her parents broke up. After the rocky track Body Language, we’re back onto the dancefloor for the stomping “Crybaby”

I really, really love this album as it’s filled the void for decent female dance artists left by the disappearance of Alison Goldfrapp. This album should and will be massive.

Buy This If You Like – Kylie/Royksopp/Goldfrapp

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