Album Review: Roisin Murphy - Hairless Toys

Since her last album seven and-a-half years ago, former Moloko singer Murphy seems to have lived a creatively nomadic life.

Balancing motherhood with occasional recording duties, trying to establish any kind of pattern or overall plan to her wayward catalogue of appearances since 2007’s Overpowered is a no-hoper, with guest spots for other artists (David Byrne, Freeform 5 etc), freebies posted to the internet for a limited time and the odd EP, including Mi Senti, an EP of Italian language covers, which considering Murphy doesn’t “speak a word of Italian,” must have been an uphill struggle.

Most of Hairless Toys (make of that title what you will) is pleasantly yawny disco music for shuffling around in your Sunday morning slippers to. Pulses/BPMs/disco ball LED speeds hardly hit the heights, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Over a slowly unwinding groove, the classy Evil Eyes finds Murphy swooping unpredictably here and there, as whopping Detroit-style synth stabs gleam forth. Musically though, the vast majority of the album is stripped back, to make room for Murphy’s Dusty Springfield-esque tremors and sighs to rise to the surface. The closest this record comes to a ground-shaking moment is on the nine-minute Exploitation, where a minimal backdrop allows Murphy to gasp her way to something near a climax. A fair effort, but these hairless toys won’t leave you panting for more.