Overpowered - Roisin Murphy
Following a lukewarm response to her Matthew-Herbert produced leftfield solo debut Ruby
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Blue," ex-Moloko singer Roisin Murphy has opted to go properly pop. Bringing together the best bits of Madonna, Giorgio Moroder and The Eurythmics, and mixing them up with acid house basslines and elastic disco grooves, Overpowered is a bid at crossover dance music stardom if ever there was one. It's a persuasive gambit too. By teaming up with trendy beatmakers like Bugz in the Attic and Groove Armada, Murphy has ensured a pumping, clean and highly individual soundtrack, over which she scatters her equally idiosyncratic lyrics and endearing vocal delivery. The Goldfrapp-esque "Movie Star," the wickedly insouciant "Footprints," the searing "You Know Me Better" and the title track all bristle with authentic dancefloor energy. There are some excellent slower tracks too--not least the dubby finale - and though not every song reaches for the sky, there's a cosmic dimension at work that puts Murphy way ahead of most of her dance-pop competitors. --Paul Sullivan