Róisín Murphy

If you are a fan of the show So You Think You Can Dance like me then you will probably recognize several of these tracks from our artist of the week Róisín Murphy. Some of my favorite routines on the show have been choreographed by Wade Robson using the unique and slightly bizarre music by Murphy.

Róisín Murphy is an Irish singer/songwriter born in 1973 who later moved to England with her parents at the age of 12 and decided to stay there even when her parents divorced and moved back to Ireland. Murphy was introduced to the music world when she met her boyfriend who later became her singing partner. Their duo was called Moloko and had great success in the UK until the couple broke up and things got awkward. Murphy took that opportunity to release solo work and released her album Ruby Blue in 2005. In 2006 she signed with EMI and the next year released her second solo album, Overpowered.

Murphy has had some great exposure here in the U.S. with her songs not only on So You Think You Can Dance but also on several episodes of Grey’s Anatomy and have received special mention from the show’s music supervisor Alex Patsavas. “Ruby Blue” was included on the Grey’s Anatomy Vol. 1 soundtrack which is where I was first exposed to Murphy’s music. Listening to her music brings of a quirky side in me and always gets me to turn up the volume and do a little dance in my chair (I’m usually restricted to a chair since music is usually listened to in my car or at my desk).

Hope you enjoyed this week’s featured artist. Please feel free to leave your comments on what you think of the music.

http://www.myspace.com/roisinmurphy

Lisa Hannigan

So this week, since I’m leaving for Dublin, Ireland on Wednesday I thought it might be a good idea to feature an Irish artist. I considered Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova who make up the duo The Swell Season but since I featured a duo last week I thought I should change it up a bit. While perusing their myspace page I found this week’s artist , Lisa Hannigan, who, if you can’t tell by her last name, is a new Irish singer/songwriter. As I began to research Hannigan I discovered that this wasn’t my first encounter with her voice. For those of you familiar with Damien Rice you might recognize Hannigan’s voice as the female back up on most of Rice’s songs. I remember wondering, as I listened to Rice’s music, who the girl was singing with him. Hannigan left Rice’s band after 6 years when “artistic differences” arose (apparently this is a common occurrence for Rice) and she decided that this would be a good time to release a solo album.

Her debut album is called Sea Sew and was released in Ireland last September and in the U.S. this February. Her new album has not only made an impression on me but on Stephen Colbert as well. Colbert is not know for endorsing new music and rarely has musical acts on his show with exceptions for such artists like R.E.M. and Neil Young. So for Hannigan to be asked on Colbert’s show is a pretty amazing honor. Hannigan’s sound reminds me a little bit of Feist, and if you are saying to yourself, “Who’s Feist?” I guarantee you know her song from the iPod commercial, “1234 tell me that you love me more….” You know it ;)

Hannigan’s talents don’t end in singing and songwriting. She also plays several instruments including electric guitar, bass and drums as well as acting skills that led to her establishing her own theater company.


http://www.lisahannigan.ie/

http://www.myspace.com/lisahannigan


I hope you enjoyed this week’s Monday Musicology. Please let me know what you think in the comments section including any new artists you think I might like. Also, since I’ll be in Ireland next Monday, the new feature might get delayed depending on my access to Internet.