An old photo

An old magazine picture of Roisin I came across today from the Statues era, so taken in 2002 or 2003.

Matthew Herbert after Ruby

Ruby Blue producer Matthew Herbert is known for turning banal objects and substances into musical instruments. On his 2001 album Bodily Functions he generated sounds using human hair, skin and internal bodily organs.

During the recording process of Ruby Blue, Herbert encouraged 'Rosie' to bring everyday objects to the studio so he could make them an integral part of the music. In spite of the album's quirkiness, there are also many elements of pop music present in the songs on Ruby Blue.

In 2006, Pitchfork asked Herbert if working on Ruby Blue influenced his sounds and gave him a taste for pop music. His answer was:

It did, I guess. The thing it really gave me a taste of was the technical aspect. Because with Ruby Blue, I really had to make the record sound a bit poppier and, just technically, I had to record the horns properly and just move away from that DIY place I started from. And because me and Rosie [Murphy] wanted to record and mix the record in just one room, I invested in the studio and I did some research on equipment. Technically, I've certainly gone up a level, and I know just how I like to mix a record.

The influence can indeed be heard on his latest musical efforts, especially on Leipzig, the fabulous lead single from this year's One One album.

Royal T (Foamo remix)

A new remix of Royal T by Crookers feat. Roisin by Foamo.

Leviathan première in Rome

On Saturday Roisin performed a DJ set in Rome and performed the song Leviathan (Do It Yourself) for the first time.

The full set list from the gig:

You Know Me Better
Forever More (Francois K. remix)
Momma's Place
Royal T
Demon Lover
Leviathan (Do It Yourself)
Sing It Back (Boris Dlugosch remix)

You can watch a few more videos here. There are also some pictures here.

DJ set in Italy tomorrow

According to the site News Spettacolo, Roisin will perform a DJ set tomorrow at the closing ceremony of a university race in Rome.

Click here for more information.

Roisin & Herbert in the studio

Two rare pictures of Roisin and Matthew Herbert, the producer of the Ruby Blue album.

The pictures were taken in 2004 by James Cumpsty in the Dairy Studios in Brixton (London), while Roisin and Herbert were recording Ruby Blue.

Roisin by Ben Sullivan

A great picture of Roisin by photographer Ben Sullivan.

I already posted this on the new forum, but thought I'd also share it on here.

Official forum closes this week!

Today Roisin announced the closure of her forum and website later this week:

This forum and the rest of the site will come down this week. As I have said, it’s time. I have always paid attention to what is being discussed here, you have made me laugh and you have brought tears to my eyes on numerous occasions. I have really appreciated all your support and your collective intelligence over the years. It has spurred me on. I have been afraid to shut this thing down for a while now, a fear of change and of losing you.

I feel utterly blessed to have been allowed to make music my life; by some fluke I have managed to make a decent living from it too. It’s important to me that you all know that I have on the whole, been happy with my lot. Perhaps I am no Dolly Parton when it comes to doing interviews and getting my point across in the way I have it in my mind and sometimes I wish I had put things differently but I really do feel I have made a success of my career, in that I have rarely had to compromise and never when it really mattered.

I have never been a political animal, I have met artists who are, adept at playing the game and acutely aware of who does what for them and who holds the power within the industry. But when I look back at it all now I even enjoy the memories of rows and turbulence with record companies, screaming and shouting at men who thought they knew what was best for me. Maybe they did and maybe they didn’t, but it’s all part of a story so full of twists and turns I can only laugh about it now.

I have been petulant and even a little spoiled, in some ways it all came too easy. In other ways it’s been fraught and not without it’s difficulties, I have had to fight. I became a singer and a songwriter by chance but I grabbed the bull by the horns. I became a performer out of sheer will and a real sense of destiny. With the exception of watching my daughter grow, the best times of my life have been on that stage.

So where do I go from here? Well, no matter what you read in cheesy celebrity magazines about those busy working Mums, I believe you can’t replicate time. I need time with Clodagh to see her develop and to be sure she feels loved. One of my greatest weaknesses in my work life has been a difficulty with delegation. Imagine then, how hard I would find delegating her upbringing. I have to see how it will pan out; it’s impossible to be sure how much I can commit to work in the near future.

But this I do know, there will be more stand-alone releases. I know most of you want an Album with all the hoopla that goes with that but that’s simply not possible right now. If and when that does happen I feel it would be better to start again, afresh. I am very doubtful these tracks will ever be part of an album project. Yet, I have seen before how just one song can change everything, all it takes is the right song and a little luck.

Up to now the DJ thing has been purely a fun experiment and done on the hop so to speak, but I have plans to expand it. I have begun to really enjoy it and even feel I can hold my own as a DJ. I intend to create music especially for it’s purposes and plan to expand its scope in terms of sound experimentation. I even think I can bring a visual element into it, digitising film and projections.

And so there it is, all I can do is bring the whole thing back to basics in the hope I can build again from there. Song by song, performance by performance, no massive over arching plans and no pressure so everything I do I can do with complete conviction. It’s about creativity again, in everything. It should be fun and so it is.

You guys have always been and always will be great! Stay in touch with one another and may I humbly ask you to keep an ear out for me? Because I’ll be out there, fighting, writing, recording and performing my little socks off.

(Source)

*Don't forget to register at the new 'officially unofficial' Roisin Murphy forum here!

Jo Metson Scott outtakes

Four outtakes from the Jo Metson Scott shoot for the The Sunday Telegraph Magazine.

Courtesy of Jo Metson Scott

A new forum!

Earlier this week Roisin announced the closure of her official forum. I am not much of a forum user myself, but I know many of you are so I thought I'd create a space for ongoing discussion about Roisin and her ever evolving career.

Click here to go the 'officially unofficial' Roisin Murphy forum and register.

A clean sheet

Yesterday Roisin replied to some posts on her official forum and made a few interesting statements on her past work, motherhood and her career. She also announced the closure of her official forum, asking fans to make their 'own arrangements':

"Times have changed guys; a fifty-piece orchestra (Statues) is simply not possible. Believe it or not I love club music, I spent a lot of my life lost in music on one dance floor or another and happily I believe it works better when it’s raw. Yet, functional music is exceptionally hard to pull off and so it’s still a challenge I find incredibly interesting. I would have to disagree about Moloko’s music working in the clubs, when quite often it did not when it was meant to. Hence Sing It Back and even Forever More work better as remixes.

I happen to think there were some wonderful mixes of Momma's Place done in the competition, as good as any so called professional ones and I find working with the new technology of web possibilities exciting. Whatever you think of Perez, his website is the reason so many people submitted tracks, in the hope of finding a massive audience for their work and for that I thank him. Ruby Blue is a one off, never to be repeated record; if I tried to recreate that experience it would do nothing for anybody.

I am turning a new chapter in my creative life, returning to London next week to get started. I have a child and she is wonderful, so everything else will have to fit in around her. I will do this on my own terms or not at all. I am closing down this site, as it seems very much part of the past. A clean sheet is what’s needed and that is what I intend to create. Those of you who wish to follow my evolving career will not be disappointed, as I still have a lot to prove. There may be some of you who are perfectly happy with what I have already created, with old records and with the past. The past will always be there but I have to move on, so I must respectfully ask you to make your own arrangements."

Source

If We're In Love - live

As a sequel to yesterday's post about the song/single, here is a video of Roisin performing If We're In Love in Amsterdam in 2005.

In Roisin's own words, the song is about "someone who really wasn't important to me in the big scheme of things, someone who flirted with me but I couldn't have sex with him. It was where I was at the time, but maybe that is always present in my voice, that neurotic undertone."

If We're In Love

If We're In Love was the first of two singles to be released from Roisin's solo album Ruby Blue. It was released in June 2005.

The maxi-single includes the following tracks:

If We're In Love (Radio edit)
If We're In Love (Matthew Herbert's Lovers remix)
Ripples
If We're In Love (Dani Siciliano's What Will Be Will Be mix)

The single was released on CD and as a digital download in the UK and in several European countries but failed to make an impression on the charts.

The music video for If We're In Love was directed by Simon Henwood and has a dreamy atmosphere that is reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland.

In the video Roisin can be seen lying on the grass in a green dress, which seems to be a reference to the Henwood painting that was used for the single cover.

What's your favourite Ruby Blue track?

As where are celebrating the 5th birthday of Ruby Blue, Roisin's first solo album, I invite you to choose your favourite track.

Also included in the poll answers are two additional songs from the Ruby Blue era: Love In The Making and Ripples, which were both recorded for the album but appeared on different releases instead.

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Mother & Child

Oh my, how sweet and adorable is this?

The first picture of Roisin and her baby daughter Clodagh, taken at the baby's christening on Sunday. Just like her mother, little Clodagh is now a Catholic.

Picture courtesy of Diane Pernet. Visit her site to also see a picture of Simon Henwood and Clodagh.

Sequins

Prior to the release of Ruby Blue in June 2005, all the album's tracks were previewed on three limited edition vinyl EPs: Sequins 1, Sequins 2 and Sequins 3. Each of the EPs includes 4 songs.

The release of the EPs preceded an exhibition by artist Simon Henwood, which featured a series of paintings of Roisin in various sequinned outfits.

Three of Henwood's images were used for the EP covers. The titling is a pun on 'sequins' and the related word 'sequence'.

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Sequins artwork & tracklists:


Sequins 1 was released on 10 January 2005 by the Echo label and includes the following songs:

Ruby Blue
Off On It
Night Of The Dancing Flame
Through Time

Sequins 2 was released on 14 February 2005 and includes the following songs:

Sow Into You
Love In The Making
Dear Diary
Leaving The City

The third 12" vinyl EP in the Sequins sequence was released on 2 May 2005. It includes:

If We're In Love
Sinking Feeling
Ramalama (Bang Bang)
The Closing Of The Doors

All songs and the artwork will be discussed in depth in future posts.

The copyright of the artwork is owned by Simon Henwood.

5 years of Ruby Blue

Later this month it is 5 years ago that Roisin released her fabulous debut solo album Ruby Blue.

In my opinion Ruby Blue is the best and most original work Roisin has produced, together with Moloko's Statues.


The album was a collaboration between Roisin and Matthew Herbert, who has a unique electro-acoustic approach to music. Herbert's production and Roisin's voice blend in perfectly together on the album, to an extent where one constantly complements the other.

This month I will dedicate a whole series of posts to Ruby Blue. There will also be a poll which will give you a chance to say which is your favourite song on the album.

Ruby, we used to love you truly
You used to make us laugh
It really was a gas...