Róisín Sings It Back

Here come the girls…

aving broken through in the 1990s with Moloko, Róisín Murphy is today part of a new wave of critically-acclaimed disco queens that also includes Jessie Ware and, at a push, Dua Lipa.

Which is pretty remarkable, given that, not so long ago, the Arklow girl took eight years off from her career to raise her lucky offspring over in sunny Ibiza.

And now the upcoming, DJ Koze-produced Hit Parade album looks set to follow 2020’s pretty dang brilliant Róisín Machine to critical hurrahs and kick-ass commercial success, the latter debuting at no.5 in Ireland and no.14 in the UK.

The new album is due to be released on September 8th, but in the meantime, Murphy has been releasing some poppermost singles, including March’s CooCool and May‘s The Universe.

On May 27th, another track from the album was given the Busby Berkeley treatment with an Arklow parade of local artists, dancers, chancers, musicians, girl guides, scouts, marionette makers and general show-offs to come out for a parade in Murphy’s hometown. All drawn to Divine Foodie’s catered feast. statement calling for participants for the video shoot explained, ‘We are looking for local residents of Arklow to take part in an authentic parade for Róisín Murphy’s new music video, which celebrates Arklow culture’.

Noice. And the town heeded the call, with brass bands, local musicians, the Albatross Cub Pack, Irish dancers, communion lasses, and just about everything else that tends to brighten up our rainy Paddy’s Day parades.

For local Gr8 Events director Colm Moules, the shoot is “very positive for tourism in the town. Down through the years we’ve had our fair share of doom and gloom in Arklow, so it’s fantastic to have such a fabulous artist promoting our town“.

Getting the kind of homecoming Janis Joplin could only have dreamt of, Murphy appears to relish this teenage fantasy come to life. Sure, even McMullan’s old shop gets a nod.

So, feast your eyes – agus ears – below. And Hozier, Newcastle is ready whenever you are…