Both as a solo artist and with her old group Moloko, Róisín Murphy has made some amazing, innovative dance music videos, like “Familiar Feeling,” “Forever More,” and “Let Me Know.” She continues that tradition with “Fader,” the latest single from her upcoming album with DJ Koze, Hit Parade. This one is pretty special, filmed on one day in May in Murphy’s hometown of Arklow, Ireland, and featuring over 150 local residents, including student marching bands, scouts, Róisín’s family, and more. Murphy directed the video as well.
“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,” Murphy says. “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 hip hop 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 counselors because we had to close the high street and then, with local groups of all kinds, musicians, dancers, scouts, majorettes, farmers, fishermen 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.”
It’s a joyous video and a great song — watch below.
Hit Parade is out September 8 via Ninja Tune and Róisín will be on tour this fall, including a NYC show at Terminal 5 on September 27. All dates are below.
Róisín Murphy Live Dates 2023/24:
Sun Jul 2 – Headline – Trinity Summer Series – Dublin, IE
Fri Jul 7 – Festival – Bilbao BBK – Bilbao, ES
Sat Jul 8 – Festival – North Sea Jazz – Rotterdam, NE
Sun Jul 9 – Festival – Cactus Festival – Bruges, BE
Thu Jul 13 – Festival – Super Bock Super Rock – Meco, PT
Sat Jul 15 – Festival – Gurtenfestival – Bern, CH
Sun Jul 16 – Festival – Castello Sforzesco – Milan, IT
Fri Jul 21 – Festival – Blue Dot – Jodrell Bank, UK
Sun Jul 23 – Festival – Secret Garden Party – Abbots Ripton, UK
Sat Jul 29 – Festival – Watt En Schlick – Dangest, DE
Sun Aug 6 – Festival – Spice Music Event Port of Burgas – Burgas, BG
Wed Aug 9 – Festival – Øyafestivalen – Tøyenparken, NO
Thur Aug 10 – Festival – Fest Fest – Chorzow, PL
Sat Aug 12 – Festival – We Out Here – Wimborne, UK
Sat Aug 26 – Festival – Connect – Edinburgh, UK
Sun Aug 27 – Festival – Lost Village – Lincoln, UK
Wed Sept 27 – Headline – Terminal 5 – New York, USA
Fri Sept 29 – Headline – The Wiltern – Los Angeles, USA
Sun Oct 1 – Festival – Portola – San Francisco, USA
Sat February 17th – Headline – Alexandra Palace – London, UK