Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

The real reason you shouldn’t buy Roisin Murphy’s new album

It's not very good

issue 30 September 2023

Grade: B

The rather wonderful, liberating thing about being a sentient human being, rather than a moron, is that one can agree with Roisin Murphy that giving kids puberty blockers is a kind of child abuse, while at the same time not liking her new album very much. Just as a sentient human being can enjoy watching Michael Sheen pretending to be other people quite well in films, while thinking him an egregious tit. The cancellation of Murphy was, of course, as obscene as it was predictable – but I do not quite swallow the idea that we are required, as a consequence, to buy Hit Parade.

The title is a bit of a misnomer: three or four decent songs does not, to my mind, constitute much of a parade. ‘CooCool’, the lead single, is as lovely a slice of electro-soul as you will hear these days and the shimmering reverb guitars on ‘The Universe’ provide a gentle thrill, sure.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in