Moloko

Moloko are...

• Roisin Murphy - vocals
• Mark Brydon - instruments

It seems appropriate that the curious story of Moloko begins – almost a decade ago - with a salacious enquiry. Dublin-born Roisin Murphy’s early heroines were Kim Gordon and Kim Deal, so it was a little off-putting that her parents told her she had a lovely voice – just like Elaine Paige. Mark Brydon was already a veteran of the Sheffield scene and the legendary FON studios (for which he did the architects drawings), and had produced Krush’s seminal early pop/house hit ‘House Arrest’ among many other projects. They met at a party in Sheffield and, for obvious reasons, called their subsequent debut album Do You Like My Tight Sweater?.

Begun in 1994 and released in 1995, …Tight Sweater was both futuristic and out of time; a dayglo confection of warped funk, alien sensuality and wicked humour. Being a girl, a guy and a computer they were lumped in with the trip hop chancers of the day – although as Mark later pointed out, it was simply the modern way of making music and writing songs.

Though their second album, 1998’s I Am Not A Doctor, was a considerably darker affair, buried in its convolutions was a song called ‘Sing It Back’. Mark and Roisin always knew it was a great pop song but, being naturally perverse, had chosen to approach it from a different angle. That a sublime, unsolicited remix should make it the toast of Ibiza and then an international hit seemed only right. The single sold over 500,000 copies and featured on 100+ compilations worldwide.

2000's Things To Make And Do had a warmer, more organic feel which integrated their experience of live performance with their established studio sound. Appearances on the festival circuit that year, including a storming performance at Glastonbury, helped the album go platinum in the UK.

The first, but least important, thing to know about Statues is that it’s the first album Roisin Murphy and Mark Brydon have made as friends rather than lovers. What is most important is that they chose to pursue their creative partnership and that Statues is a focussed, direct and uplifting album. Mark: “In a way, the whole process of making it was the end of a chapter in our relationship and the start of another. It’s a triumph of believing in something enough to ride over all that.” Roisin: “With every record you make, there are points during the making of it when you don’t know whether it’s going to get finished or whether it’s any good – I’ve had that with every record I’ve made with Mark. You take on an epic project and you’re bound to have a crisis of confidence.”