Irish singer, songwriter, and producer Róisín Murphy returns today with a brand new single, ‘Fader’, the third to be taken from her highly anticipated upcoming album Hit Parade which is set for release via Ninja Tune. The bountiful 13-track album eloquently blurs genre and pushes sonic boundaries across its vivid and captivating runtime. “Fader” comes accompanied by a self-directed video and in a full circle moment is set against the backdrop of Murphy’s hometown of Arklow, County Wicklow.
Presented in striking black and white – influenced by classic Hip-Hop videos of the early 90s – and also conceptualized by Murphy, the “Fader” visual enlists the help of 150 Arklow locals, with the roads of Murphy’s hometown being closed off to recreate a street parade bursting with verve and life.
Murphy delves into the inspirations and process in her own words – “This idea came to me partly in reaction to making such surreal and ‘other’ imagery for the album artwork, and partly in response to the track itself. I felt I needed a totally authentic space in which to perform Fader. The song is about life & death & music and so I went home to where it all started for me. Just as in the music there’s a huge HipHop influence on the video and for me to have the sheer front for that, it needed to ring true and so my home town, Arklow was in fact, the only option. It was a huge task to take on, connecting with local government counsellors because we had to close the high street and then, with local groups of all kinds, musicians, dancers, scouts, majorettes, farmers etc and much of my family… doing something like this is a massive responsibility and it threatened to overwhelm me at times. But on the day we had Hollywood sunshine and just an incredible sense of goodwill. The people of Arklow made me so proud. It truly turned out to be one of best days of life…”
A polymath in every sense of the word, Murphy gives each release an entirely fresh and distinct visual identity, and beguiling “Hit Parade” is no different. Overseen by Murphy, the artwork features herself, photo-montaged into an AI generated image from artist Beth Frey, graphic design by Bráulio Amado and commissioned by creative studio Object & Animal (who have previously worked with the likes of FKA Twigs, Caroline Polachek and Shygirl).
‘Fader’ possesses a Daisy Age sampladelic hip-hop verve that practically transports the listener to another plane of sound entirely. The steady shuffle and swing of breakbeat drumwork rattles beneath Murphy’s prophetic lyricism – “off to meet my maker, when I’m good ready”. Lucid instrumentation and warping vocal effects are deployed by DJ Koze throughout the track with grandiose effect, providing a luscious environment for Murphy’s existential playfulness to thrive.
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