FACE
Jimin
K-Pop - Released March 24, 2023 | BIGHIT MUSIC
Messy
Olivia Dean
R&B - Released June 30, 2023 | EMI
Hit Parade
Róisín Murphy
Electronic - Released February 22, 2024 | Ninja Tune
The Irish art-pop queen gets extra freaky on her latest, produced by DJ Koze. Hit Parade is fearless, willing to go places most minds would never imagine. "The Universe" is a gorgeously absurd yacht rock breeze that finds Róisín Murphy trying on a sunny accent and goofing on "Row Row Row Your Boat," of all things. "The House"—a party fueled by a funky guitar riff—was reportedly inspired by a dystopian J.G. Ballard story, and it shimmers and shines with a sinister brightness. "'Cause this house is holding it/ All that loneliness/ This place is going insane," Murphy sings, before revealing in a voice that's more disbelieving than panicked: "It's locked me in … I can't get out of the house." Her powerhouse voice—a descendent of Dusty Springfield, Alison Moyet, Annie Lennox—is a marvel here, especially on tracks like the liquid R&B "What Not to Do." Sensual like Christine and the Queens (aka Redcar), it's a sexy meditation on control with Murphy playing both sides: "Tell me what not to do/ You better stay, never leave, you better listen to me." She and Koze effortlessly play with genres and show excellent taste in who they borrow from. Love song "CooCool" samples R&B legend Mike James Kirkland's "Together" and layers on eccentric funk, jazz trills and chilly-crisp drum breaks. "Fader" is weird and wonderful, solid-gold '70s soul that just feels good and samples Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. "Hurtz So Bad" is positively lush and echoes Murphy's trip-hop days in the duo Moloko, "Two Ways" delves into trap beats, "Free Will" drips with disco-diva glitter, and "Can't Replicate" is seven-and-a-half minutes of hypnotic deep house. Even the goofy interlude "Spacetime," with Murphy's young son chanting "time and space" in a child's pretend ogre growl, somehow fits right in. And closer "Eureka" is absolutely unnerving, like some soundtrack to the dystopian movie Brazil, only you don't know what is metaphorical fantasy and what is mortally real. "What the doctor said/ He took one look at me/ Told me he could see/ There was something there," Murphy sings. "And I can't even say/ What the surgeon/ Gonna take away/ And I don't really care anyway … Just cut away/ Like I'm made of clay." © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz
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