NEW YORK!

Sorry for my absence over the weekend, but Roisin gave a spectacular show in New York on Friday.

The following review comes from the prestigious New York Times' art blog:

Not every CMJ debutante arrived in a beat-up old van (or, this year, by taxi from Williamsburg). Roisin Murphy, an electronica singer and songwriter who’s Ireland’s answer to the likes of Eurythymics or Goldfrapp, already has a sizable following at home, both as a solo performer and with her previous group Moloko, which was a duo with her ex-boyfriend. She made her United States debut as part of CMJ with a sold-out show at Mansion, the huge dance club in the space formerly used as Crobar, to an ecstatic audience of fans who knew every song.

Ms. Murphy brought a live band and subwoofer-pumping electronic tracks. She also had video, dancers and costume changes, from a skin-tight white top that revealed all to giant feathered contraptions and, rivalling Bjork’s famous swan, a fabric deer straddling her shoulders while she wore antlers on her head. It was the kind of extravaganza CMJ rarely sees.

Ms. Murphy deserves to get noticed in the United States. Her voice has some of Annie Lennox’s smokiness, suitable for come-ons or admonitions that she’s a “headstrong girl.” Ms. Murphy chose her producers well for her two solo albums “Ruby Blue” and “Overpowered,” getting crisp beats that dip into funk, electro, techno and rock and adding tricky flourishes to basic propulsion. And her lyrics put intelligent superstructures on typical club sentiments; “Primitive,” about unleashing animal instincts, turns to thoughts of evolution, all the way back to “the primordial soup.” It was bigtime pop that could teach a lot to some of CMJ’s cutesy electro hipsters.

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The set list of the show was as follows:

Cry Baby
You Know Me Better
Checkin' On Me
Dear Miami
Primitive
Ruby Blue
Movie Star
Forever More
Let Me Know
Overpowered
Tell Everybody
Ramalama (Bang Bang)

Click here to see Arjan Writes' photo report of Roisin's US debut. You can read his fantastic review here.

Arjan also reveals that Roisin will return to North America for a full tour in the Spring of 2009!

Thanks to Betty for the second picture!