Interview with Roisin Murphy

It's pronunced "Ro-Sheen."

She's fucking fabulous.

She's playing NYC tomorrow night and I am dying inside that I won't be there.

I talked to her for Slant. You can go read the whole interview - this is my favorite bit, though:

Slant: Any sense of what's playing on your tour bus, as it were?

RM: No, because I've been listening to lectures on my iPod.

Slant: Oh? Lectures by whom?

RM: I download economics lectures, and philosophy lectures, and sociology lectures and such. There's an American site called the Teaching Company, they have the best professors in the world making lectures for them. Y'know, downloadable audio lectures. I haven't been listening to much music honestly.

Slant: Since you're listening to a lot of philosophy, then, I'm curious what place you think pop music has in a world like ours that's so full of bad news.

RM: Well, "pop music"? I don't really separate music out into those kind of…I mean, obviously people say what I've made is pop, but I would kind of disagree. I would say that I'm more fascinated with-on this record, more with disco, house, with emotional dance music, really, than just "pop." I don't think I've ever aspired to make pop music. That doesn't interest me in any way. If it becomes popular by default that's fine. So what can pop music do? I think, very little. I think that music is a great escape for people. And my music is obsessed with night culture, which is in turn a great escape for people. I love the notion of being in a nightclub dancing beside a plumber and an electrician who knows every word of some old soul record. And they're the best person they could possibly be in that moment. They have that belief in a nightclub, you know? I find that very romantic.