Ruby Blue (album)

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Ruby Blue
Ruby Blue cover
Studio album by Róisín Murphy
Released June 13, 2005
Recorded 2004–2005
Genre Electronica, jazz, experimental, pop
Length 48:14
Label Echo
Producer Matthew Herbert, Róisín Murphy
Professional reviews
Róisín Murphy chronology
Sequins 3
(2005)		 Ruby Blue
(2005)		 Overpowered
(2007)

Ruby Blue is the debut solo album of Irish singer Róisín Murphy, released by Echo Records on June 13, 2005 (see 2005 in music). After she and Mark Brydon dissolved their electronic duo Moloko, Murphy began working with producer and musician Matthew Herbert, known for his musique concrète approach to music. The songs were first released through three extended plays and were then compiled into a studio album.

The album often samples sounds made by everyday objects and actions, including cosmetics, brass mice, dancing and ornaments.[1] It mixes the electronic music for which Moloko was known with jazz and pop styles. The album received positive reviews from music critics.

Ruby Blue was commercially unsuccessful upon its June 2005 European release, charting at #88 in the United Kingdom, and fared poorly when released in the United States the next year. It produced two singles, "If We're in Love" and "Sow into You". Songs from the album were used in the television series Grey's Anatomy and So You Think You Can Dance.

Contents

[edit] Background

Murphy and Mark Brydon ended their romantic relationship but were still contractually obligated to record another album, which became Moloko's 2003 album Statues. When she finished touring, she found herself alone and had to re-evaluate the friendships she had built.[2] During this time, she got to know Herbert, whom she had met when he remixed several of Moloko's songs.[3] Murphy had wanted to work with him again, commenting that "it felt very natural…because Matthew makes things seem quicker and easier."[4] During the first day of recording with Herbert, he had her bring an unspecified object so that they could hit it against a microphone and record the sound it made. Herbert's approach was that for Murphy to go solo, the album should revolve around her and the sounds that surround her.[2] They wanted to carry out recording and audio mixing in one room, so Herbert invested in a studio.[5] There, Herbert recorded Murphy's voice without accompaniment so that she could better hear how her voice naturally sounded.[6] On occasion, the two added instruments to a track by having her hire an instrumentalist, sometimes to play an unusual instrument such as a hammered dulcimer.[1]

After the pair had recorded a few songs, Murphy found that she enjoyed working with Herbert, and her label let her work freely without any deadline. When she presented them the album, they found it odd and did not hear any songs that would make successful singles. The A&R division suggested that Murphy make some changes to make it more radio-friendly. Murphy refused, stating that she "wanted it to be as pure as possible." The label later came to support her.[7] The songs on Ruby Blue were gradually released on 12" vinyl EPs titled Sequins 1, Sequins 2, and Sequins 3, in January, February, and May 2005 respectively.

The cover of Sequins 1, taken from a canvas that Henwood painted of Murphy in abstract poses while dressed in sequins.
The cover of Sequins 1, taken from a canvas that Henwood painted of Murphy in abstract poses while dressed in sequins.

The cover of Ruby Blue was painted by Simon Henwood. Murphy met Henwood in a pub,and Henwood, who was known for his simplified paintings of teenagers, thought that she would be a good subject for a painting.[2][8] Henwood came to Murphy's house the next week and, while they were looking through her wardrobe, decided to have her dressed in sequins.[2] Murphy positioned her body in abstract shapes for Henwood to paint.[8] His canvases were displayed at The Hospital in Victoria, London,[9] and Murphy purchased them "for [her] kids so they can see what [she] once looked like."[8] The three EPs and both singles used Henwood's paintings in the cover, and he later directed the music videos for the singles.

[edit] Composition

Ruby Blue mixes electronica with early twentieth century vocal jazz, an interest of Herbert's.[10] The instruments, primarily brass and woodwinds,[3] are layered over sampled noises such as alarm clocks, a water cooler, hairspray and helmets.[10] Murphy's vocals were described as a combination of "a less-pained Billie Holiday and a less-sheltered Doris Day."[10] She identified OutKast's 2003 double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below as an influence, stating that "it was experimental, it was soulful and funky."[4] The album's lyrics are based on her romantic relationships with Brydon and then with Henwood.[2][11]

[edit] Songs

 

The opening track "Leaving the City" slowly builds up during the introduction[12] and uses out of tune instrumentation and a repetitive chorus.[3] Following "Sinking Feeling", which uses a beat constructed from clicking sounds,[13] is "Night of the Dancing Flame", which combines synthesizers with 1920s jazz.[14] It is written in waltz time[10] and was compared to Stevie Wonder's work during his peak.[2] After opening with noises such as rustling and coughing,[14] the longest track "Through Time" proceeds into a ballad that was compared to those by Carole King.[15] The fifth track "Sow into You" was released as the album's second single. The song uses a metaphor of rain and harvests to describe love and sex,[16] atop a baroque pop brass arrangement.[12] "Dear Diary" is a torch song mixing northern soul with disco music[13] with the sounds of doorbells and telephones ringing.[14]

The seventh track "If We're in Love" was released as the album's lead single. It is a downtempo song featuring a boogie swing rhythm and sharp brass parts, opening with phased vocals and closing with a call and response between brass and keyboard parts.[17] "Ramalama (Bang Bang)", the eighth track, contains a chorus of onomatopoeic lyrics[13] delivered over a tribal rhythm.[14] The title track uses overdriven guitar parts and layers of overdubbed vocals.[3] Its lyrics caution a woman who has become out of control and its title was chosen to contrast feelings of passion and melancholy.[10] "Off on It", a more experimental song with an unsteady rhythm,[13] precedes "Prelude to Love in the Making", an excerpt of less than one minute taken from "Love in the Making" on Sequins 2. The album closes with "The Closing of the Doors", a cabaret-style ballad driven by the piano.[13]

[edit] Critical reception

Murphy performing at the 2005 Glastonbury Festival.
Murphy performing at the 2005 Glastonbury Festival.

The album received positive reviews from music critics. All Music Guide wrote that "Murphy keeps the alluring sensuality and unpredictable quirks that made Moloko unique, without sounding like she's rehashing where she's already been."[14] Stylus Magazine said the album "happily represents something of a midpoint between the downright oddity of Moloko's early albums...and the mix of disco sensibility and wrenching balladry of their swansong".[13] PopMatters referred to the album as "one of the best examples of production shaping but not overwhelming the artist's vision."[12] The Guardian agreed, stating that because of Herbert's production, Murphy sounded "sonically enticing and varied…at times sultry, rude, powerful and tender across white noise, waltz time signatures and jazz sass" but was mixed on the album overall, adding that the pair "their noodling eclipse the songs, leaving few you'll actually be able to sing back to anyone."[2] Pitchfork Media remarked that "it's hard to imagine anyone not ranking this is[sic] the best thing Murphy has ever done" and that "when the songwriting is on, Ruby Blue seems perfect, the ultimate combination of human warmth and technological know-how."[3] The publication listed the album at number forty-one in its list of the top fifty albums of 2005.[18]

[edit] Chart performance

Murphy performing in Haifa, Israel in June 2005.
Murphy performing in Haifa, Israel in June 2005.

Ruby Blue was released in Europe June 13, 2005 and was less successful than Murphy's work with Moloko. The album reached number eighty on the Billboard European Top 100 Albums, dropping off the chart the next week,[19] and failed to chart on the UK Albums Chart.[20] It had the most success in Belgium, where it reached number seven and remained on the albums chart for twelve weeks. Elsewhere in Europe, it reached the top forty in Finland and the top fifty in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland.[20] Echo released the album in the United States on April 25, 2006, but it did not chart on the Billboard 200.

[edit] Soundtrack appearances

A third of the album's songs were used in the second season of medical drama Grey's Anatomy. "Ruby Blue", "Ramalama (Bang Bang)", "Love in the Making" and "Night of the Dancing Flame" were used for "Make Me Lose Control", "Deny, Deny, Deny", "Bring the Pain" and "Much too Much (Grey's Anatomy)| Much too Much]]" respectively. The show's music supervisor, Alexandra Patsavas, stated that she had been a fan of Moloko and gave Ruby Blue a positive review.[21] "Ruby Blue" is included in the first volume of the show's soundtrack.

Dancers from So You Think You Can Dance performing the zombie dance.
Dancers from So You Think You Can Dance performing the zombie dance.

Two songs were used for reality show So You Think You Can Dance. "Ramalama (Bang Bang)" was used for a group performance on the sixth week of the second season. Contestants wore costumes and make-up to show them as zombies in a performance combining the 1968 horror film Night of the Living Dead with Michael Jackson's 1983 music video for "Thriller".[22] At the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards, the performance was part of a three-way tie for Outstanding Choreography with a So You Think You Can Dance performance of Céline Dion's "Calling You", choreographed by Mia Michaels, and the television special Tony Bennett: An American Classic.[23] The performance was repeated when the top twenty contestants returned for the season finale. "Night of the Dancing Flame" was used for a couple's jazz dance in the fourth week of the following season. The performances were choreographed by Wade Robson.

The title track was used as the opening theme for the MTV Italy's talk show Very Victoria, hosted by Victoria Cabello who made the song very popular in Italy thanks to a nonsensical and surreal coregraphy that was often recreated by the show's audience and became a YouTube cult.

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Róisín Murphy and Matthew Herbert.

  1. "Leaving the City" – 4:49
  2. "Sinking Feeling" – 3:32
  3. "Night of the Dancing Flame" – 3:26
  4. "Through Time" – 5:58
  5. "Sow into You" – 3:56
  6. "Dear Diary" – 5:50
  7. "If We're in Love" – 4:31
  8. "Ramalama (Bang Bang)" – 3:35
  9. "Ruby Blue" – 2:48
  10. "Off on It" – 5:22
  11. "Prelude to Love in the Making" – 0:53
  12. "The Closing of the Doors" – 3:29

[edit] Personnel

Performance credits
  • Vocals: Róisín Murphy
  • Saxophone: David O'Higgins
  • Dulcimer, drums: Geoff Smith
  • Bass guitar, acoustic bass guitar: Max DeWardener
  • Piano: Phil Parnell
  • Flute, trumpet, flugelhorn: Peter Wraight
  • Trombone: Trevor Mires
Technical credits
  • Production: Matthew Herbert, Róisín Murphy
  • Assistant engineers: Alex Smith, Alexis Smith
  • Audio mastering: Mandy Parnell
  • Art direction: Simon Henwood

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Why the Moloko singer decided to go solo". Woman's Hour. Retrieved October 8, 2007.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Sullivan, Caroline. "Her time is now". The Guardian. May 27, 2005. Retrieved October 7, 2007.
  3. ^ a b c d e Richardson, Mark. "Róisín Murphy: Ruby Blue". Pitchfork Media. July 8, 2005. Retrieved October 7, 2007.
  4. ^ a b Bankole, Ade. "Beautifully Flawed". Straight No Chaser. February 2005. Retrieved October 8, 2007.
  5. ^ Richardson, Mark. "Interview: Matthew Herbert". Pitchfork Media. July 10, 2006. Retrieved October 11, 2007.
  6. ^ Moore, Ralph. "Roisin". Mixmag. January 2005.
  7. ^ Sturges, Fiona. "Roisin Murphy: Dressed to kill". The Independent. June 17, 2005.
  8. ^ a b c Pearson, Gemma. "Roisin Murphy". Fused, issue 23. Retrieved October 7, 2007.
  9. ^ "Roisin Murphy". Chrysalis Music. 2005. Retrieved October 9, 2007.
  10. ^ a b c d e Tartan, Suzannah. "Diva sings hot and cold on solo debut". The Japan Times. May 29, 2005. Retrieved October 7, 2007.
  11. ^ "Retail therapy: Fashion Rocks". The Daily Telegraph. October 17, 2005. Retrieved October 13, 2007.
  12. ^ a b c Raper, Dan. "Roisin Murphy: Ruby Blue". PopMatters. August 24, 2006. Retrieved October 8, 2007.
  13. ^ a b c d e f Oculicz, Edward. "Róisín Murphy - Ruby Blue - Review". Stylus. Retrieved March 22, 2007.
  14. ^ a b c d e Phares, Heather. "Ruby Blue > Overview". All Music Guide. Retrieved March 23, 2007.
  15. ^ Endelman, Michael. "Ruby Blue | Music Review". Entertainment Weekly. May 12, 2006. Retrieved October 8, 2007.
  16. ^ Mulholland, Garry. "'Sow into you' by Roisin Murphy". The Observer Music Monthly. May 22, 2005. Retrieved October 8, 2007.
  17. ^ "Róisín Murphy: 'If We're in Love' [Track Review]". Pitchfork Media. July 14, 2005. Retrieved October 8, 2007.
  18. ^ "Top 50 Albums of 2005". Pitchfork Media. December 31, 2005.
  19. ^ "Chart Listing For The Week Of Jul 02 2005". Billboard. Retrieved October 8, 2007.
  20. ^ a b "Roisin Murphy - Ruby Blue - Music Charts". αCharts.us. Retrieved October 8, 2007.
  21. ^ Patsavas, Alexandra. "Episode Guide: Bring the Pain". American Broadcasting Company. Retrieved October 8, 2007.
  22. ^ "Show 217/218". Fox Broadcasting Company. Retrieved October 8, 2007.
  23. ^ Mesger, Robin. "59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards". Lippin Group. September 8, 2007. Retrieved October 8, 2007.