+ ROMANCE WAS BORN

+ SANDRA BACKLUND

+ HENRIK VIBSKOV

+ CHRISTINA OSWALD

+ SHARON RUSSELL

+ PETER SUTHERLAND

+ CARY KWOK

+ BEN SCHUMACHER

+ SHY CHILD

+ EXPATRIATE vs. COPS

+ ROISIN MURPHY

+ + + ROMANCE WAS BORN + + +
Interview by ELLA MUDIE

www.romancewasborn.com

click images to enlarge
All images courtesy and © the artist

“We don’t try to fit in, ever. We are making what we believe in and like, if that’s commercial or not at the time is up to you.”

Romance Was Born is the fashion powerhouse of Sydney design duo Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales. After graduating from design school the pair turned down internships with John Galliano in Paris to focus on the label. Since then they’ve shown at Australian Fashion Week, dressed icons like Debbie Harry and Karen O and were recently named finalists in the very covetable SOYA awards…

1.Congrats on making it to the final three in SOYA’s fashion category. What’s been most rewarding about the experience?
It’s been really great to get the wider media’s interest, especially with our label Romance Was Born being so new.

2.This year you made your debut at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week. Where did the inspiration for ‘Weird Science’ come from?
We were really interested in science as a general theme, but we focused on the four elements, fire, air, earth and water. The 80’s film “Weird Science” brought together the general vibe for the show and the styling.

3.What were some of the highlight materials you guys picked out to express your futuristic theme?
We really love lycra, so we had a lot of hologram lycras and PVCs, also one of our favorites was a pearlised polyester organza.

4.‘Weird Science’ also saw your third collaboration with Australian artist Del Kathryn Barton. What kind of prints did you dream up this time around?
We made a print to go with each four elements for Weird Science; we also included Love as the fifth element, which tied everything together.

5.Has it been hard to stay true to your philosophy of individuality and freedom of expression in the world of commercial fashion?
Not really, we don’t try to fit in ever, we are making what we believe in and like, so I guess if that’s commercial or not at the time is up to you!

6. Do you consider Romance Was Born an “Australian” label? What’s your vision for where you want to take the label next?
We definitely see ourselves as an Australian label; everything we do is Australian made which we believe to be very important! Just because there may not be anyone like us here doesn’t mean we’re not Aussie!

+ + + SANDRA BLACKLUND + + +
Interview by Jason Lingard

www.sandrabacklund.com

click images to enlarge
All images courtesy and © the artist

“Trends, seasons and wearability is not the only measurements for fashion ... I will always think of fashion as an artform.”

1. Where are you from?
I was born in a town in the north of Sweden called Umea and moved to Stockholm seven years ago when I started my studies in fashion at Beckmans School of Design. I graduated in 2004 and founded my own company directly after that.

2. How did you get into what you do? Would you consider yourself an accessories maker?
I have always felt the need to express myself through art and design. Before I decided to go into fashion I studied both Fine Arts, Textile Handicraft, Art History and History of Ideas at university. I guess I could have choosen any direction within arts and craft after that, but somehow I found that fashion was the ultimate outlet for both my ideas and my need to work creatively with my hands.

I don´t think of myself as mainly focused on accessories, for me it is more about knitwear and other handicraft experiments.

3. Your pieces are quite extreme and progressive. Do you sometimes feel your work is more art than fashion?
I don´t like the way that the desire to make fast and big money is poisoning the fashion industry of today. Trends, seasons and wearability is not the only measurements for fashion. My education is in "fashion design", but I will always think of fashion as an artform, one of the more democratic forms of art that almost everyone can relate to.
 
4. How do you work? What is involved in your creative process?
When I start a new collection I always start from a diffused idea. Then I begin to experiment with different handicraft techniques and materials to find a couple of concrete bricks to develop into garments. I improvise a lot and allow myself to lose control to see what happens if I do not think so much about practicality or what other people want from me. One thing leads to another and in the end the collection is like a three dimensional mind map.

5. What inspires you?
The human body is always a strating point. I am really fascinated by all the ways you can highlight, distort and transform the natural silhouette of the body with clothes and accessories. When it comes to the idea of a collection it comes mostly from inside. I try not think about things like trends, seasons, and wearability. In the end I do this only to satisfy myself.
 
 
6. What next for Sandra Backlund?
I am involved with a project called "The Apprentice Idea", supported by Australian Wool Innovation. Five top names in the field of fashion, Karl Lagerfeld, Donatella Versace, Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein, Paul Smith and Franca Sozzani have choosen one young designer each which are given the opportunity to create a whole collection with Australian Merino wool as the primary focus. I am the choice of Franca Sozzani and the collections will be shown in Italy in January 2008.

+ + + HENRIK VIBSKOV + + +
Interview by RENE KININMONTH

www.henrikvibskov.com

All images courtesy and © the artist

“I have good fun… and that is the most important thing!”

Young designers understand that success and recognition in the fashion industry does not come without insane late nights, extreme multi-tasking, and odd freelance jobs left right and centre. All this leaves barely enough time to sleep and eat. The life of Danish-born designer Henrik Vibskov is no exception.

OK, here goes… as mentioned earlier, with those late nights in the studio and crazy freelance jobs, Vibskov also manages to run his own self-titled label, which is stocked around the world at exclusive boutiques most designers would kill to sell at. He also runs his own flagship store in Copenhagen, while skipping off to show collections in Paris four times a year. Not content with stopping at clothing, he has traveling installation exhibitions (at shows like Palais de Tokyo and Hyeres Art Festival), and also finds the time to create short films. Oh, and to top it all off he is a champion break-dancer, and has been playing the drums since he was ten years old. Whew!

His latest collection, The Fantabulous Bicycle Music Factory, featured a pink and blue cage-like runway through a large airy warehouse space. Models took seats on bicycles on a long narrow carousel, peddling to activate musical instruments next to them, creating a bizarre meeting of sight and sound in true Vibskov style.

1. Where are you from?
I’m from Copenhagen, Denmark. Sorry… I’m on the tour bus which is a little sling sling from side to side… mix that up with a lot of coffee and a hangover! We played a gig in London yesterday sooo…. Yeah!

2. I’m amazed by the long list of activities on the biography page of your website, how do you manage to fit so much in?
I think I have a very simple life, and a simple company. I don’t think I’ve been working too much. But recently it have been a lot ever since I started touring with muscian Trentemøller… We will hit Australia in three weeks!

3. Your runway shows are always so elaborate and original. Where do your ideas for come from?
I have a very good sense of fantasy and imagination I would say. Haha. But I also have good fun… and that is the most important thing!

4. Clashing graphic patterns and prints play a large part in your collections. Is a print the starting point for you when designing some pieces?
No it depends. Sometimes the starting point could be the installation idea, sometimes it could be an artwork which goes into print which goes into the
fashion which goes back to the artwork which goes back to the starting point… then maybe it doesn’t work then we start again and again and again … and then
another idea which then suddenly works and goes into the... which goes into the… etc, etc!!

5. What do you hope people get from your clothes when they wear them?
I hope they get a little feeling of the Vibskov world… Just a little WOW WOW WOW!

6. Who are your most admired designers/ artists/musicians at the moment?
I really like the Dutch artist Karen Van Dam. Musically I love the Icelandic sound, and also some hardcore Drum n Bassssssssss!

Henrik Vibskov is currently on tour with musician Trentemøller.

+ + + CHRISTINA OSWALD + + +
Interview by MARCUS COWAN

www.irritaction.com

click images to enlarge
All images courtesy and © the artist

“A photo will always contain some tiny piece of reality at least.”

1. Where are you from?
I´m from a small town in Bavaria, Germany. Since 2005 i´ve been living in Austria. But I´m quite sure I won´t stay there forever.

2. How did you get into photography?
Hmm, I don’t know how I "got into" photography. I was taking my first photos at the age of 4 'cause my parents gave me their camera. The result was: no heads in the photo, haha. I still like those pics by the way. I was taking pics as everybody else does: in my holidays and so on. Later in school I took a photography class, and my interest began to grow. When I broke my Dad's camera I decided to buy a reflex-cam and from then on I was taking lots of photos.
After my A-level exams I was fed up with always just stuffing my brain with theoretical things. I wanted to work more practically, and see results. I was really torn because I also applied for philosophy and cultural studies, too. I got into photography and decided that in the end doing something creative was important to me. Initially I wasn’t very happy with the course and re-applied through the Fine Arts department. I never thought I’d end up studying Fine Arts.

3. What do you love the most about being a photographer?
Firstly, I think I don’t consider myself just a photographer. I’d say I mainly work with photography but I’m also interested in and working with other mediums. That is important to me because I need some variety in expressing myself.

I always had regret that I couldn’t draw or paint properly– then I discovered that I didn’t need those skills to make a picture. Sometimes I still want to be able to draw or paint what’s in my mind and I get a bit angry that I can’t express some ideas with photography but in general I like the fact that photography is very close to reality and can make such an impact. That’s the great thing about photography! Especially in our modern society where it has become very difficult to trust anything and to trust pictures– it is interesting to play with that in art. You can capture reality or create your own "reality" . People can always identify with it in some way because there is still something of a "maybe" of a "it could be possible". A photo will always contain some tiny piece of "reality" at least.

4. …and what do you hate the most?
That it’s not very cheap! … and I hate archiving and organising negatives and data. I often get hysterical concerning my negatives and equipment and how precious it is to me… that really is a bit weird, haha.

5. The outdoors features a lot in your images, how important is this to your work?
I spent a lot of my childhood in a very rural area, so I think nature is an important influence in my life. I’m always fascinated by the variety and changeability of the outdoors. It gives me some kind of "inner-freedom". I like that this could be a little part of my images.

6. What other messages do you explore through your photography?
Philosophy, sociology, psychology… How do we live and perceive life? How do we become the person that we are or think we are? A whole bunch of things… to sum it up, life and people.

7. What would be your dream project?
I think a lot of the projects I do are kind of a "dream project". I’d love to have someone rich finance my projects! Actually, my dream is to make a living from my art. I can also imagine doing some projects with some of my friends. And I definitely want to do a book! I’ve so many dreams… I want to do so much!

+ + + SHARON RUSSELL + + +
Interview by ANNA JACKSON

click images to enlarge
All images courtesy and © the artist

“I see the connotations of knitting as traditionally warm and comforting creating a great tension with what say, nipple tassels evoke.”

Mixing the traditions of knitting with sexualized garments, Sharon Russell’s recent photographs are both sweet and compelling - in an erotic Nana kind of way.

1. Knitting plays a potent role in your work. How did you come to knitting as your medium?
I came to it during the almost compulsory phase of disillusionment I went through in my second year at art school when I realised that all I really wanted to do was knit. I started to knit objects and environments to then photograph and found it worked well because I could be in complete control of the images and I was combining two mediums that I love. Previous work had always been contrived so it was an inevitable, natural progression really.

2. Your choice of garments is varied, some are overtly sexualized, others are strictly functional – how important do you think this variety is to understanding your work?
The recognition that there is a variety is important but that’s just the surface. Of more central importance is making the links within the variety that has been stitched. While there is a mundane/everyday-ness to some objects that is lacking in others their similarity lies in that every object is a knitted representation of itself. A typical sense of functionality is lacking. I believe that there is a feminine sexuality, obviously in varying degrees, to all the objects in the way I have photographed them and in the way they are worn by the body.

3. The relationship between the knitting with its inherent association with nurturing, and the sexualized garments is intriguing. Can you tell me a little about how you see them operating together/against each other?
I see the connotations of knitting as traditionally warm and comforting creating a great tension with what say, nipple tassels evoke. A reason the knitting in my work is so pivotal and works as well as it does is that there is definitely something ridiculous in knitting sexualized objects. Knitting enables me to deal with serious issues humorously and in this way what the medium and objects connote operate together.

4. As a recent graduate, what are your plans for the coming year?
I’ve got a few ideas for some new work, including asking friends to take polaroids of themselves wearing the knitted nipple tassels, lose control a bit. I am still really excited about how my graduating exhibition went and where my work is heading so basically just keep making. I’ll probably knit a whole lot of donuts too, just for fun.

+ + + PETER SUTHERLAND + + +
Interview by JASON LINGARD

www.petersutherland.net

click images to enlarge
All images courtesy and © the artist

“ ... anything I see is a potential photograph and I have to make a decision to either grab the camera or let the moment pass.  It's part fun, part obsession.”

1. Where are you from?
I was born in Michigan and grew up in Colorado, USA.
 
2. How did you get into photography?
My younger brother Andrew gave me a manual 35mm SLR camera for my 23rd birthday.  He taught me how to use it, it felt good so I kept shooting and experimenting. There was a vision I really liked as a kid, it was a swarm of gnats (small flying bugs) that would spin around in our front yard, it was one of the first things I photographed. Thanks Andrew!
 
3. Your work could be labeled as "documentary photography". How would you describe you work?
One of my favorite films is Gimme Shelter  a famous documentary about a Rolling Stones concert that got out of control, it was directed by the Maysles Brothers in the late 1960s. That film inspired me, and yes it is a documentary, but it's very artfully shot. If I approach pictures with a documentary style of shooting, it's not simply about recording the subject– I'm also interested capturing a feeling or mood.  If I'm lucky and I get something good, I have an image that makes me feel something, and if I'm really lucky others will feel something as well. I enjoy the way singers like Bob Dylan can tell stories and make them interesting and exciting, I hope this is what I'm doing with photos.
 
4. Capturing everyday things around you, you always have to be on the lookout. Does photography consume your life?
It does, anything I see (with the exception of a computer screen) is a potential photograph and I have to make a decision to either grab the camera or let the moment pass.  It's part fun, part obsession.
 
4. What do you enjoy shooting the most?
I like taking pictures when I feel that I have access to something that is unique. This is becoming more difficult because there are so many people taking photos now. There is a book called The Bike Riders by Danny Lyon, it was shot in the 60s and it features American motorcycle gangs. When you see the photos, you can tell he had trusting access to the bikers, it makes them feel very special. I think he was the only one that could see the importance of taking those pictures at that time, I try to apply that type of vision to my work.
 
5. How would you describe a really good picture?
It's difficult to describe, I've always been interested in the way people relate to imagery.  The feeling I get when I see a really good picture is similar to the feeling of hearing a really good song.  It's tough to describe more than that.
 
6. What are you working on now / next?
I've been working on a series about survivalist types, people that are living outdoors.

+ + + CAREY KWOK + + +
Interview by LULU CHANG

www.heraldst.com

1. Cum to Barber (2000's) 2006
2. Cum to Barber (1960's) 2006
3. Cum to Barber (1780's) 2006

click images to enlarge
images courtesy Heral St Gallery
and © the artist

“ … I have always been fascinated by our human sophistication, our ability to build, to build our knowledge, our appearances, our environments and so on.”

Realise how simple and obvious it is: the person tugging at your body and demanding your presence is interested not in titillation, but recognise that that person, is yourself. In his meticulously drawn portraits, London-based artist Cary Kwok spotlights our insatiable appetite for the provocative while reminding us of our shared human differences and similarities.

1. Are you formally trained?
I was trained as a fashion designer but not as an artist. I did my BA and MA in Fashion design at Central Saint Martins in London. I learned a lot there, especially on the MA, not only things about fashion, I learned a lot about life as well. And I studied footwear (shoemaking) in Hong Kong a long time ago before I moved to London. I guess you can say I’m formally trained.

2. Are your drawings saying something particular about the pursuit of sexual gratification?
… I think a lot of my work often has subtle resonances about racial, ethnic, sexual and gender equality to it with a bit of my sense of humour. I guess I often subconsciously make a point of the differences and sameness between people of different races and cultures through my drawing, whether it is of hairstyles or sex. And I have always been fascinated by our human sophistication, our ability to build, to build our knowledge, our appearances, our environments and so on.

My Cum To Barber series of portraits of men with orgasmic faces frozen in time with semen ejaculating onto their own chests is an intimate close-up of our human differences, similarities and shared qualities. The men in this series are of different periods from the Ancient Roman to the 2000s and different racial and cultural backgrounds. The intention of this is not to promote the diversity or segregation of people but to try and draw their attention to an unconscious recognition of our similarities and differences regardless of race.

We often find the familiar more comfortable and reject the unfamiliar. I titled the Cum To Barber drawings by the periods of their subjects rather than the nationalities or racial backgrounds of those depicted for this reason.

And of course it’s simply because I am interested in hair and sexual imagery too.

3. In your “Cum To Barber” series, how strange and wonderful that Superman and Spiderman should appear. Is your subconscious a kind of superhero?
Don’t think so… but I like superhero stories. I was pretty hooked to Heroes the TV series. Yeah…I would love to have a super power.

I think my superhero series of drawings is just an extra intimate look at an imaginary private world of these characters whom people usually think of as so far beyond our reach. I thought it’d be funny to take the audience into their private lives and to bring the heroes to our human level of desires and needs like masturbation. And to imagine what they can do with their manhood as somebody with advanced powers. It’s like watching porn, we are so fascinated by the size of porn actors’ penises and the volume of their ejaculation. We almost unconsciously idolize them as superheroes. If porn stars amaze you, imagine what superheroes could do, you’d think twice before sleeping with Dr. Banner or Mr. Kent.

+ + + BEN SCHUMACHER + + +
Interview by JASON LINGARD

www.tinyvices.com/Ben_Schumacher

1. One time at a keg party me and Feilding were jumping off the rooftop. Then Kealan threw a rock at one guy and he came up and kicked the shit out of us.

2. When we were young me,Luke and Brendan made obstacle courses in the living room with the couches.  One day brendan pushed Luke over the couch and smashed his head into the wall. He got 12 stitches in his forehead.

3. One day on Wolfe Island, me and Joel went to the Duck Club and took loads of mushrooms. We walked out into the marsh and laid down and watch the sky for hours. We both agreed that there was a big deck of cards in the sky and the king and queens were having puking competitions.

4. What stood even higher was me, I, myself, submerging myself in the primordial abyss of the absolute, in the primordial will which wills nothing.

click images to enlarge
images courtesy and © the artist

“There is no real message in the narrative ... they all materialise slowly after the events occur in my life ... A lot of them are about puking and the things that can make you puke.”

1. Where are you from?
Kitchener, Canada

2. How would you describe your work?
I think of events that I have witnessed then I make attempts at re-capturing them, sometimes with sculptures and sometimes with drawings or I try to remake a story or repeat an event.  I always fail to do it successfully so sometimes I make many works about the same story; eventually the story starts to change as much as the work.

3. Your drawings are quite child-like, with a cheeky and sinister edge. Do you think you draw from your inner child? or even your childhood?
I got thoracic outlet syndrome last year, I used to do really controlled, detailed line drawings but now I can’t.  A lot of the stories that accompany those drawings come from my childhood so they are completely determined by my memory of childhood.

4. Do you aim to relay a message in these pieces? or is it all just random?
There is no real message in the narrative of the pieces they all materialise slowly after the events occur in my life as I try to remember what has happened and symbolise it.  The sculptures can look conceptual almost at first glance in their minimalist aesthetic but as the objects are related to their title (which is a story) they become quite narrative and non-reflexive which separate them from conceptual art.  A lot of them are about puking and the things that can make you puke.

5. What / who inspires you?
Smoking cigarettes and people who tell me they like me.  Stories of being young about things that happen while doing acid, getting drunk having sex.  Sophie Calle and Matt Kostachen are quite inspirational and I really like this quote by Schelling:  "He who, apropos of a decision, reserves for himself the right to drag it again to light, will never accomplish the beginning."

6. What would your dream project be? 7. What next / now for Ben Schumacher?
I don’t know, everything that I try to make has already happened, except with more intensity. 
I am going to this island in the winter with a bunch of friends, we will have parties in snow forts and maybe we will go ice skating and make fires in the snow.  My brother broke his leg so I am going to drop him off in the forest and make a video of him trying to cross the forest on crutches in the snow. I have this guy that wants to buy some art from me so with the money he pays me I am going to pay for my parents to go away for a weekend then I am going to have a party in their house, so the work he receives comes directly from traces of the party or a story that materializes from the party that he has funded.  He also has to pay for beer and drugs but he doesn’t get to come to the party.   I am also collecting a bunch of art work from my friends which is all really good, so maybe I will try and do a show with them. 
 
http://the-steelers-blog.blogspot.com/

Born in 2000, NYC duo Shy Child are a hard act to define. Picking a genre to pigeonhole them in is close to impossible.

Following the likes of bands such as the White Stripes, band members Peter Cafarella and Nate Smith create all their sounds between the two of them using only a drum kit, a keytar (or the keyboard-guitar, one of the cheesiest, 80’s instruments around) and vocals. Besides the fact that they must be one of the only bands around using a keytar for their assorted keyboard and synth effects, there is plenty that is interesting and different about the music they create. The band itself states that its aim is to fuse ‘Jamaican dancehall and Timbaland beat quirks with punk energy and overdriven analogue joy’. I don’t know if that’s how I would describe it exactly, but it certainly captures the spirit of experimentation and exploration that remains at the heart of Shy Child’s music.

The people behind Shy Child, Pete and Nate, were both friends in college and got their initiation into the music world playing for various NYC groups, including punk-funk outfit El Guapo and musical duo Touchdown. Shy Child was born to humble beginnings in Nate’s bedroom, where Nate and Pete began writing songs that provided an outlet for their fascination with electronic and progressive rock sounds. Their first album, “Please Consider Our Time”, was recorded in a practice space and then mixed in Pete’s bedroom. They sold it in local record shops as a demo before they got the chance to release it properly on small Montreal record label, Grenadine Records, in 2002. The album was released again in Japan by Romz records the year after, and they signed with local NYC label Say Hey Records in 2004.

After they signed with UK label Wall of Sound in 2006, they began recording the album that is currently creating a storm in the charts. Their album “Noise Won’t Stop” was released early in 2007, and their debut single “Drop The Phone” was instantly added to high rotation on Triple J and sparked an inundation of viewer phone calls and requests for interviews. Since their album was released, Shy Child have gone from strength to strength. They have toured with the Klaxons and Hot Chip, they supported Muse at Wembley stadium, and have remixed songs for the Editors and the Futureheads (amongst others).

After playing an assortment of live shows and events around Australia earlier this year, they are set to return for the 2008 Big Day Out and play alongside such industry heavyweights as Rage Against The Machine and Bjork. These shows are bound to prove to the world that Shy Child, rather than just being poster boys for the currently trendy ‘nu-rave’ movement, are an amazing band doing things with synths and drums that you could barely dream of. And if you don’t like Shy Child? Well, at least you can tell your friends that you got to see someone playing a keytar!

In what is set to be one of the co-headlines of the year, beloved outfits Expatriate and The Cops are set to tour nationally this coming September, presented by Channel V and Fasterlouder.

Both bands have enjoyed phenomenal success this year, with The Cops’ release of ‘Drop It In Their Laps’ and Expatriate’s ‘In The Midst Of This’. Both albums saw a number of tracks on high rotation on Triple J, with The Cops’ “Call Me Anytime” and “The Message” hitting a number of commercial stations, as with Expatriate’s “Crazy” and “The Spaces Between”.
We asked the band for their opinions on touring, pop songs and “making it.”

Ben and Simon from Expatriate:

1.) Where did the name come from?
I grew up living life as an expatriate moving back and forth between Indonesia, Singapore and Australia.

2.) How did the band form?
By accident really. I recorded our initial EP at Damian’s house/studio and I gave it friends in other bands like Red Riders and from there got shows in and around Sydney. It was meant to be a solo project but Chris and Damian and I just went with it and Expatriate was formed. It’s crazy because we’ve just been nominated for an ARIA award for Best Breakthrough Artist for an Album which is wild!

3.) How hard/easy was it to "make it" in your local scene?
It was easy to get shows because we’d all been in various bands before and knew a lot of other musicians and people that booked pubs so that made it easier to play live and build a name for yourself.

4.) How do you feel Australian bands are perceived overseas?
It ranges from feeling the only things we can do is rock hard or do pure pop like Kylie or Savage Garden. It seems things get lost in the middle somewhere along the way.

5.) Best touring experience?
Our whole last tour for our album in July/August was a great experience. Seeing people sing the words back to all your songs puts you on a high.

6.) What makes a perfect pop song?
A great and memorable chorus and not much else.

7.) What song of yours are you most proud of and why?
The Spaces Between because it’s the heart and soul of our whole catalogue (which is very extensive after only one album ;) Lyrically and in its sentiment it means the most to me and it carries the flame I think for what Expatriate is.

8.) How does the band write? Together, or is the work divided up..?
The record was for the most part written by me but everyone has their opinions on arrangements and sounds and it’s quite democratic. More and more now though we are writing together and the second record will probably be more about that.

9.) What are your grand plans for the next year?
A decent holiday somewhere!

I started listening to Róisín Murphy’s new album Overpowered with a preconception of who she is, and what kind of record I wanted to hear. I’ve been listening to Murphy since I was sixteen (when she was with Moloko). Initially I couldn’t get past the fact that Overpowered was a “poppy” “dancey” album. Yeah I guess Moloko’s biggest hit was a dance remix of Sing it Back... but I was holding out for something a bit more “left-of-centre” like Moloko's good old days. Once I got over this I quickly realised that Overpowered may be a dance-pop album– but it’s a damn good dance-pop album.

Murphy co-wrote and co-produced the album– she herself has admitted that she set out to make a pop record, and it was made in a “pop kind of way” where she worked with top producers such as Groove Armada's Andy Cato and Richard X. There are moments where the record does seem over-produced, but Murphy’s unique vocals always manage to cut through the heavy dance beats.

The stand-out tracks are Overpowered and Let Me Know (the first singles), both are intelligent dance tracks, slow-burners that take some time to grow on you. In my opinion –and many may disagree– the best song is Primitive, a strange, slow, funk track laced with weird “doomp doomp” backing vocals and even weirder lyrics “From the primordial soup, out of the dim and the gloom we came. We are animal, one unbroken chain”. But then maybe I like it because the beat is more stripped back, and makes me forget that I could just be listening to a regular pop album.

One thing that makes this album great –and it’s not related to the music at all– is Murphy’s perfect fashion sense and spot-on art direction. The styling of the first two videos and album artwork is progressive and fresh. Murphy has said that conceptually she wanted to comment on how being a flamboyant performer is not just a façade, but more an extension of who she truly is.

There is something missing from this album… maybe the star herself has almost been over-produced out of the album, or maybe I was just expecting something else. But at the end of the day there is no denying that this is an awesome dance-pop album, and that Róisín Murphy is the whole package: great voice, born performer, flamboyant, stylish and unique.