Interview at Elevate

Róisín Murphy: “I like to push the boundaries”

The musical whirlwind has a name: Róisín Murphy

(Bild: Elevate/Clara Wildberger)

With Moloko and as a solo artist, Irishwoman Róisín Murphy has already had two impressive careers. At the end of the Elevate Festival, she gave a concert on Sunday evening in the sold-out Orpheum in Graz - beforehand, the 50-year-old bundle of energy answered our questions in the Krone interview.

At the end of the 20th edition of the Elevate Festival, the grande dame of artificial dance-pop performed on Sunday evening in the Orpheum, which has been completely sold out for months: Róisín Murphy. The 50-year-old Irishwoman, who landed in the top 5 of the English album charts for the first time last fall with her latest album "Hit Parade", congenially mixed the best solo songs with legendary songs from the 90s cult band Moloko, with whom she became a vocal wonder and superstar virtually overnight. At the start of her European tour, the Spanish singer by choice thrilled the audience with a glittering performance, which was carried not least by her strong backing band. Róisín came on stage wrapped in black fur, but each of the 17 songs required its own outfit. Sunglasses, a plain jacket, an upside-down baby doll or the obligatory top hat - the artist changed her fashion with incredible energy and swept across the stage.

The choice of songs and the composition were beyond all doubt. She skillfully meandered between warm 70s disco ("Overpowered"), Sheffield electro sounds ("Murphy's Law", "Simulation") or dark chapters such as the intense new "Can't Replicate". During "The Universe", they went on the hugging offensive in the first rows of the audience and the Moloko classics "The Time Is Now" or "Sing It Back" escalated into cozy dance jam sessions. In between, sound engineer Paul was serenaded on his 58th birthday-Róisín Murphy at the Orpheum was a triumphal procession that will reverberate for a long time to come. No one currently masters the mixture of danceability, likeability, down-to-earthness, humor and hit quality as well as the Irishwoman.

(Bild: Elevate/Clara Wildberger)

"Krone": Róisín, the performance at the Elevate Festival on Sunday was your official start to the European tour. Did you experience anything of the city?
Róisín Murphy: We arrived the evening before and I went for a long walk that night. In the morning of the concert day, I went to the castle hill. Everyone asked me if I was crazy and why I was doing this to myself, but I didn't understand - you can be up there in 15 minutes! It's nothing more than a small hill. (laughs)

You closed the 20th edition of the traditional Elevate Festival with your performance. What do you know about it?
Nothing at all, actually. I was just here to perform. (laughs)

Do you like performing at festivals that have an environmental or socio-critical message?
Not consciously, but it doesn't bother me either. The Orpheum in Graz is a rock'n'roll venue, and that suits my program very well. In many ways, activism is a fad right now and I've never done what everyone else is doing. If everyone is an activist, then it's definitely not me. (laughs)

Your current album "Hit Parade" takes you into a danceable, electronic world inspired by the 70s. Do you like to offer people an opportunity for escapism?
There is definitely a depth to my art, but it's more about freedom of expression and individualism. I want to offer the imperfect and show that being an artist is a challenge. I am constantly challenging myself and people feel this energy.

Art cannot be judged according to strict criteria. There is no such thing as the fastest, the strongest or the first-place winner. Isn't it kind of strange that despite this freedom, as an artist you are always being measured and judged?
I feel safe when I'm not safe - if that makes sense. I have to push the boundaries and grow beyond myself, then I feel like I'm on the right track. In the beginning at Moloko, I always thought I had no business being there. It was a great adventure in which I simply lived my life. The work developed out of this life, which was never planned. I just kept going and was always at the limit of my capacity. On the other hand, that's also the right way to go, because if I feel too comfortable, then I have to put more pressure on myself.

Is that one of the reasons why your solo albums sound so different from each other?
I wear a lot of different outfits during the show and try to make the visuals and videos as exciting as possible. Everything I do, I try to do in the best possible way. I usually want to do more than I can actually do. When I set myself ambitious goals, I learn a lot along the way. Sometimes I fail, but in the middle of the storm there is always a calm spot that shows me the right path. Pretty much everything to do with an album is conceptualized by myself. I bleed and care about it immensely. I often find it hard to explain what drives me and where I want to go - so I just do it.

With each new album and each new project, do you feel more freedom and independence than before? Is that part of the development process of Róisín Murphy as an artist?
I felt totally free from the beginning. There is no album of mine that was conceptualized before I started working on it myself. I've made almost all of my albums with a strong second person. "Hit Parade" now with DJ Koze, otherwise a lot with my keytar player Eddie Stevens, who is also on tour with me and was already involved with Moloko. Even on the album "Overpowered", where there were many songwriters, artists and producers, I was the boss. I could choose any direction, which made the album incredibly expensive, but the experience was great. I allowed myself strings, changed the mixes and went for a Philadelphia sound. There was a pretty clear idea of the house and groove direction I wanted. Some songs didn't make it onto the album because I made the decision. I was always free and independent.

Even with Moloko?
My career started by chance. I fell in love with Mark Brydon and we became a couple because I was talking nonsense. Then we had Moloko and signed a record deal for six albums before I could even sing. We didn't even have a band name yet and we were living in Sheffield, a long way from London. Mark was 13 years older than me, an experienced producer who had made many albums and had his own studio. He was an important part of the DIY scene in England. I wasn't molded from the outside, I just sang and danced the way I wanted to. It turned into a career. It was never meant to be cynical, it was just an adventure. I was already living on my own at 15 and was independent very early on. A bit crazy, but creative and self-confident. I didn't know back then that things could hurt me, so they didn't. It was never about the pain and I never let myself be treated badly because I wanted to avoid problems or solve them. I just went my own way and this is the music that came out of it.

Have you learned over the years that you always have to expect the unexpected from yourself?
Absolutely. A lot of people told me that they didn't know what would happen to me - but something would definitely happen. They didn't know what would happen to me, but something would happen to me. (laughs) Over the years, I gained confidence. I managed to release "Overpowered" in 2007. I managed to finish "Hit Parade" with DJ Koze and be very happy with it. I can make a Sheffield disco album and persuade people that that would be a good idea. I can also put on a great show on stage because I'm really into it. We sold out Alexandra Palace in London, around 10,000 people. In the fall, my team was hoping it would work out. I always knew it would and I'm delighted that it worked out.

You also have some of the old Moloko songs on the setlist at your live concerts. Do you do that more for the fans, or do they still bring you great joy?
I just want to have a great setlist where there are cozy, driving and emotional moments. I'm very happy with our song selection at the moment and I like to stick to one set on tour because the flow keeps getting better and you keep improving. Last fall I actually played more songs from my new album "Hit Parade" than I do now, but the song selection is better than ever right now.

(Bild: Nik Pate)

Because you were talking about the Sheffield sound - you've been living in Ibiza for about four years. James Blunt also lives there and he once told me that the EDM and electronic scene there clearly inspires him. Your music is more balanced, more exciting, more subtle. Does that mean you don't fall for the classic Ibiza sound?
I'm certainly not there for the music. (laughs) I go into our house, close the doors and make my music - that's the only point of contact with sounds. The music in Ibiza is so incredibly bad. It's almost like stabbing music with a knife. Music is played everywhere. In restaurants, in stores, in the houses - everyone has big sound systems and blasts their EDM sounds at 2pm in the afternoon. It's awful. I love the nature there, I have no direct neighbors and our house is a nice place to work. It almost reminds me a bit of my childhood in Ireland. A lot of things are rural, you have peace and quiet and our children can grow up the way I did. We are far away from the crowds, which is very pleasant.

Is rural life also so important to you because as a musician you travel so often and are also in big cities?
I love walking, running and exercising. My behavior has changed quite a bit in the last few years. Ibiza is a very healthy place if that kind of life is important to you. If I need a studio, a film director or some video experts, they're all available there. There are also a lot of musicians on the island. It may be small, but they are all well connected. My partner has had a house there for almost 30 years, otherwise we wouldn't be able to afford a place to stay. By today's standards, the costs are extremely low and I'm glad that it's working out for us. When the lockdown hit us, we traveled there and never left.

What does Ibiza do to your creativity and your form of artistic expression?
I wrote most of the songs for "Hit Parade" in London before the pandemic, but a few songs like "The Universe" came to me in Ibiza. Funnily enough, the more negative songs were written there. The song is roughly about how you can be bothered even in paradise. For example by some annoying mosquitoes, while you might just have the most beautiful view in the world. I felt like I was in J.G. Ballard's novels in the house. As if we were stranded in a lost paradise. The pandemic felt like the end of the world, like a great collapse. Ballard's short stories are set in a place called Stellavista. A playground for the rich and wealthy. Our time there always reminded me of these stories. Even though his is about financial collapse and we were hit by the virus. That sounds over-intellectual, but that's how it felt for me.

Your old home country England is also a very different country today than it was five or six years ago. Changed in many ways and sometimes unrecognizable ...
I used to enjoy watching carefree television on boring days in England. Today it seems like a hundred years ago, although it's perhaps only seven. The world is changing at an incredible speed and we humans are being left behind. A little more calm would do us all good.

I particularly like the warm sound on "Hit Parade". Did it come about, perhaps subconsciously, because the world as a whole has become such a terrible place and the album is supposed to be a cozy, safe antithesis to that?
We should ask DJ Koze this question, because he shaped the sound. His ears are so sensitive that he really rejects everything that doesn't fit 100 percent with the basic idea. It doesn't matter how long and hard you've worked on something. Most of the sounds and recordings were literally thrown into the river to drown. He's only happy when it's great. No one in my presence has ever dealt with sounds so brutally. But that's also the key to the album. He also put my voice in the center because he likes it. He sometimes pitched it or added speed, but that's how he got the maximum out of me and my voice.

It wasn't easy, but the result speaks for itself. I controlled and managed everything else. When it comes to music, I'm very good at learning from the producers I choose. When I'm about to have a panic attack, I stop and remind myself that there's a reason why I'm working with these people. So I take a breath, listen and open up. Not everyone can work with the producers I've worked with. It's not easy, but the best things in life are never easy.

Let's move on to the visual aspect. Do you have your fashion, all the outfits, as well as the music videos in mind very early on in the process? Or does a lot of it just emerge from doing it?
There isn't much of a plan beforehand, most of it happens at the last minute. But I have the chaos behind the scenes under control so that it somehow makes sense in the end and looks good for you in front of the stage. I'm responsible for the styles and fashion myself and the puzzle often only comes together on the first day of the tour. The further the tour progresses, the clearer the concept becomes. The first few concerts of a tour are still a field of experimentation in terms of lighting, sound and costumes. Eddie Stevens, who has been with me for 28 years, is the perfect musical director. The band and I trust him 100 percent, so I can let everything go. But when it comes to the visual aspect, I work much more actively right up to the last minute. The cover artwork for "Hit Parade" also only came at the last minute because we were looking for a record company.

(Bild: Elevate/Clara Wildberger)

"Róisín Machine", the predecessor, was released on BMG. "Hit Parade" is now on the popular electronic label Ninja Tune.
Neither I nor DJ Koze played the album to anyone before it was finished. Not a single soul. As soon as you share the first demo recordings with anyone, you are inevitably subject to some form of criticism. Mark said on Moloko that playing demos takes the magic out of the songs. At some point, everyone hears the songs anyway and the original magic goes away, but I delay that moment until the very last moment. We went to various record companies with the mixed and mastered album and most of them wanted to sign us - that was a good sign. I don't know what will happen next either. Maybe the next album will be released somewhere else. I'm not a fan of being stuck in long contracts, we already had that with Moloko.

The cover artwork is quite brilliant in its weird way.
It's crazy, but people often say I'm crazy or weird anyway. (laughs) But I don't think about that when I choose artwork. One of my favorite artworks is the one for "Locust Abortion Technician" by the Butthole Surfers. I had that album as a teenager and it inspired me. You look at it and think "What the fuck? What is that?" It's supposed to go with the music for me too. People often wonder what the hell I'm doing. Sorry, but I'm not one to present myself in a cute dress.

Doesn't this world need a bit more craziness and rapture anyway?
But I don't see myself as crazy at all. I simply try to think differently and beautifully, outside the usual norms. The quality should be high, but not ordinary. I obviously don't have to make an effort to appear crazy - it's just the way it is. (laughs)