Ex – Moloko frontwoman Roisin Murphy released her first album in 8 years, ‘Hairless Toys’ on Play It Again Sam records in May 2015. It is a career defining tour de force.  Tipping its hat to the dark disco of European house music, Casablanca Records and Grace Jones, while seamlessly taking in the freedom and organic spirit of jazz, country and gospel.

 The rich, expansive production – by Roisin’s long time musical collaborator Eddie Stevens – is full of inventive loops and unlikely hooks, a grand magical spell exemplified by album opener ‘Gone Fishing’. A song inspired by the film Paris Is Burning, where originality, invention and celebration are escapes from the ugly realities of the world around us, a place where “The practice of realness, feels so surreal” .

Elsewhere ‘Evil Eyes, Exploitation’ – the debut single from the album – and ‘House of Glass’ provide the extended shake-outs essential to any of Roisin’s albums, while ‘Exile’ and ‘Unputdownable’ hide huge country soul hooks amidst their inventive structures. Sonically adventurous, ‘Hairless Toys’ embraces a broad palette of genres yet is consistently engaging and thrilling throughout.  An exceptional return from an outstanding artist. ‘Róisín Machine’ is the next chapter of that ever unfolding, always compelling tale – a seamlessly edited, 10 years in the making collection of tracks produced in collaboration with her Sheffield pal Parrot, at once her most unabashedly dance-floor ready yet deeply autobiographical work to date.