Róisín Murphy
Hairless Toys
PIAS [America]
Jun 16, 2015 Róisín Murphy
Coming up during the era where a guy making beats with a girl vocalizing was most commonplace, even then Róisín Murphy couldn’t create music that correctly fell in step with her peers. That was the ‘90s when Murphy was half of the trippiest of trip hop acts, Moloko. After an eight-year absence—during which she had two children, featured on a number of dance smashes, and released an EP of covers of Italian pop songs in Italian—Murphy returns with her third full-length, the quizzically titled Hairless Toys.
To call Murphy “quirky” is dismissive of how uncomfortable her voice can make the listener. She draws comparisons to Grace Jones more often than anyone else, another performer whose presence doesn’t sit easily on its receivers. And Hairless Toys doesn’t fit easily into dance-pop, the loose umbrella under which Murphy’s music tends to fall. If anything, Hairless Toys is a collection of digital torch songs with the occasional shuffling beat thrown in.
There is a metronome-like quality to the backing tracks, which in their restraint allow Murphy to direct the mood. She fluctuates between disturbingly brilliant to aggravatingly irritating at regular intervals—sometimes even during the course of a single song. With only eight tracks on Hairless Toys, each one is packed full of emotion, and carries on for longer than necessary. This may be why some tracks, such as “Uninvited Guest,” feel like more than one track. “Uninvited Guest” starts with an annoying whistle before transforming into a whispery spine-tickler, but then circles back to the whistling. She coos owl-like on “Exploitation,” a sophisticated and haunting lounge-y dance number, but then it keeps going and going, undoing all the interesting moodiness it created. “Exile,” with its spooky grooves and Murphy’s throaty delivery, takes a stab at a smoky jazz and does so very well. On “Hairless Toys (Gotta Hurt)” she really does make you hurt with her sob-laden declarations and a fairy tale-like twinkling of keys behind her. And she brings you to your knees with the tearing closer, “Unputdownable.”
It’s clear that Murphy is not planning on fitting into any expectations, not even one song at a time. This is probably why she’s managed to have the staying power she has. (www.roisinmurphyofficial.com)
Author rating: 5/10
Average reader rating: 9/10
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