Overpowered

Roisin Murphy's brilliant solo career

There is hardly an artist in the show business today that is as underestimated as the former soloist of electronic duo Moloko Roisin Murphy. Although their singles Sing It Back and The Time Is Now have in its time become huge international hits, the name of the singer seems to have been until recently quite unknown to a wider audience. After her break-up with Mark Brydon the time of the duo was through and Murphy has pursued a solo career. In 2005 her debut album Ruby Blue was released. It was an original collection of quality pop music that provided Roisin with a solid fan base and served a springboard to start the brilliant music career which is continued by the new work called Overpowered. The tracks of the record have been co-written by Roisin and Seiji of Bugz In The Attic and mixed by Tom Elmhirst who worked with such stars as Amy Winehouse, Royksopp and Grace Jones. The result has surpassed all expectations: Overpowered can be rightfully considered one of the year's best pop releases, and Roisin Murphy has once again confirmed that there is always room for perfection.

Not a simple album Overpowered

Although the basic material of Overpowered consists of danceable tracks, lyrically many of those are not that simple as it might seem. The singer often shares with her personal feelings and raises the topics that worry her. The album opens with the title composition Overpowered with soft beat and a simplistic melody, refined with unearthly audio effects. On a superb song You Know Me Better finds Murphy exploring the disco territory, and track Checkin' On Me conquers with amazing danceable beat combined with amazing instrumental background giving you the creeps. The vocal talent of the singer reveals its best on the single Let Me Know, whose danceable beat will make anybody start moving. A hedonist song Primitive is reminiscent of Moloko's works; its text is one of the most interesting ones on the record. A song devoted to the problems of environment protection Dear Miami serves a good example of Roisin's aiming to sing of what she thinks is important, whereas Scarlet Ribbons in which the singer addresses to her father is obviously quite detached from the rest of the album's material. Pretty tracks Tell Everybody and Body Language demonstrate very well what quality pop music should be like, and the album closer is another danceable composition Parallel Lives.

The international fame of an independent artist

Since the early childhood Roisin has been known for her rebellion character and has strived for being different from the others. The first works of Moloko were remarkable for the fact that the duo's members approached the things with a certain portion of humor, that is why they became popular that fast. Today Murphy is among the most talented performers, and the new album confirms that in many ways. In comparison with the debut record Overpowered is obviously a better piece of work, in the respect of both the arrangements that have become evidently more modern, and the lyrics that contains more personal ideas from Roisin. The other musicians that have taken part in recording the album have also contributed. For instance, single Let Me Know, collaboration with Groove Armada, is one of the best tracks on Overpowered. Yet it is but natural that the success depended mostly on Murphy herself. Now that she has let the world know what she is really able to do Roisin is sure to gain the international fame and be recognized not only as a former Moloko soloist but as an independent artist as well. Actually it is enough to listen to Overpowered even once to make all doubts about that just fade away.