Following a lukewarm response to her Matthew-Herbert produced leftfield solo debut Ruby Blue," ex-Moloko singer Roisin Murphy has opted to go properly pop. Bringing together the best bits of Madonna, Giorgio Moroder and The Eurythmics, and mixing them up with acid house basslines and elastic disco grooves, Overpowered is a bid at crossover dance music stardom if ever there was one. It's a persuasive gambit too. By teaming up with trendy beatmakers like Bugz in the Attic and Groove Armada, Murphy has ensured a pumping, clean and highly individual soundtrack, over which she scatters her equally idiosyncratic lyrics and endearing vocal delivery. The Goldfrapp-esque "Movie Star," the wickedly insouciant "Footprints," the searing "You Know Me Better" and the title track all bristle with authentic dancefloor energy. There are some excellent slower tracks too--not least the dubby finale - and though not every song reaches for the sky, there's a cosmic dimension at work that puts Murphy way ahead of most of her dance-pop competitors. --Paul Sullivan
Tracklisting & Credits:
1 Overpowered (5:08)
Guitar - David Okumu
Keyboards - Mike Patto
Keyboards, Drums, Producer - Seiji
Mixed By - Tom Elmhirst
Written-By - Mike Patto , Paul Dolby
2 You Know Me Better (4:18)
Mixed By - Eric Kupper
Producer [Additional] - Ill Factor
Written-by, Producer, Performer [Instruments], Engineer - Andy Cato
3 Checkin' On Me (4:39)
Arranged By [Brass] - Ivan Corraliza , Stephen Tirpak
Arranged By [Strings] - Larry Gold
Bass - Stephan Murphy
Engineer [Recording Engineer - Strings] - Joshua Maiden
Mixed By - Tom Elmhirst
Performer [Instruments] - Ill Factor
Producer - Ill Factor , Jimmy Douglass
Saxophone [Tenor] - Carl Cox (2)
Trombone - Stephen Tirpak
Trumpet - Matt Cappy
Written-By - Cheri London , Ivan Corraliza , Jimmy Douglass
4 Let Me Know (5:10)
Guitar - Kevin Rudolf
Mixed By - Dan Carey
Producer [Additional] - Ill Factor
Technician [Studio Assistant] - Alexis Smith
Written-by, Producer, Performer [Instruments], Engineer [Recording] - Andy Cato
5 Movie Star (4:02)
Drums - Ross Orton
Engineer [Recording] - Seiji
Guitar - Mike Patto
Mixed By - Tom Elmhirst
Producer, Synthesizer, Programmed By - Dean , Parrot
Recorded By [Additional Recording] - Dean
Written-By - Mike Patto , Paul Dolby
6 Primitive (4:50)
Arranged By [Strings] - Larry Gold
Engineer [Recording Engineer - Strings] - Joshua Maiden
Mixed By - Tom Elmhirst
Producer - Ill Factor , Jimmy Douglass
Written-By - Ivan Corraliza
7 Footprints (3:37)
Guitar - David Okumu
Keyboards - Mark de Clive-Lowe
Mixed By - Jimmy Douglass
Producer, Keyboards, Drums, Engineer [Recording] - Seiji
Written-By - Marke de Clive-Lowe , Paul Dolby
8 Dear Miami (3:41)
Guitar - David Okumu , Mike Patto
Mixed By - Jimmy Douglass , Tom Elmhirst
Producer, Drums, Engineer [Recording] - Seiji
Written-By - Mike Patto , Paul Dolby
9 Cry Baby (5:55)
Backing Vocals - Philly Smith
Mastered By [Mastering Engineer] - Tom Coyne
Mixed By - Tom Elmhirst
Producer - Dean , Richard Barrett
Producer [Additional] - Mike Ward
Synthesizer, Programmed By - Dean , Parrot
Written-By - Dean , Mike Ward , Richard Barrett
10 Tell Everybody (3:51)
Arranged By [Strings] - Larry Gold
Backing Vocals - Cheri London
Engineer [Recording] - Joshua Maiden
Mixed By - Jimmy Douglass
Performer [Instruments] - Ill Factor
Producer - Ill Factor , Jimmy Douglass
Written-By - Cheri London , Ivan Corraliza , Jimmy Douglass
11 Scarlet Ribbons (5:36)
Bass - Robin Mullarkey
Drums - Davide De Rose
Engineer [Assistant] - Alexis Smith
Guitar - Jason Ozveran
Keyboards - Ed Stevens
Producer, Mixed By, Engineer [Recording] - Dan Carey
Written-By - Dean , Mike Ward , Richard Barrett
Bonus Tracks
12 Body Language (4:40)
Mixed By - Tom Elmhirst
Written-by, Producer, Engineer, Performer [Instruments] - Andy Cato
13 Parallel Lives (4:22)
Mixed By - Tom Elmhirst
Written-By, Producer, Keyboards - Richard X
CokeMachineGlow Review:
Despite more or less universal acclaim from all fans of intelligent Europop, Róisín Murphy’s Overpowered still hasn’t been officially released in the U.S. This only starts to make sense when one considers the static, assembly line nature of what passes for a commercial North American diva these days. Compared to the likes of Beyonce, Rihanna, or even (groan) Fergie, Róisín Murphy is completely friggin bizarre, an alien beamed in from an alternate pop universe with zero chance of radio exposure.
Firstly, she’s unafraid to look completely ridiculous, reveling in Jean-Paul Gaultier meets Alice in Wonderland-style costumes in her videos and in Overpowered’s liner notes. Then there’s the issue of her lyrics, which while not above the standard lovey-dovey fare, more often sound like GZA soundbytes minus the chess references or like Andrew Bird post-industry (e.g. “As science struggles on to try and explain / oxytoxins flowing ever into my brain”). Clearly she’s a touch bonkers, and her audience is richer for it.
But she also has a brassy voice capable of belting it out in the service of hella catchy pop songs equally accessible to the dancefloor or (in a perfect world) the radio. Her cadre of producers includes such notables as Richard X, Andy Cato, and Ill Factor, all of whom pile on disco flourishes, beds of strings, synths, appropriate vocoder, and in the case of closer “Scarlet Ribbon,” convincing dub bass. The result is a textbook dance-pop manifesto, a multi-hued funhouse of sound where nearly every track is a potential single.
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