Hairless Toys

Hairless Toys
Studio album by Róisín Murphy
Released 8 May 2015 (2015-05-08)
Recorded 2014–15;
Clams & Clogs, RMS Studios, London and
Fish Factory Studio, London
Genre
Length 50:24
Label Roisin Murphy, Play It Again Sam
Producer
Róisín Murphy chronology
Overpowered
(2007)		 Hairless Toys
(2015)		 Take Her Up to Monto
(2016)
Singles from Hairless Toys
  1. "Exploitation"
    Released: 13 April 2015[1]
  2. "Evil Eyes"
    Released: 15 June 2015
  3. "Unputdownable"
    Released: 11 December 2015
  4. "House of Glass (Maurice Fulton Remix)"
    Released: 11 December 2015

Hairless Toys is the third solo studio album by Irish recording artist Róisín Murphy, released on 8 May 2015 by Play It Again Sam. It is Murphy's first full-length release since 2007's Overpowered. The album was nominated for the 2015 Mercury Music Prize.[2]

Background

The announcement of the album was accompanied by a stream of the first track, "Gone Fishing", which Murphy confirmed was inspired by the 1990 documentary film Paris Is Burning.[3]

A four-minute edit[1] of "Exploitation" was later issued as the first single, with a music video directed by Murphy herself released on 13 April 2015.[4] Murphy commented that the song is about "selling out, manipulation and exploitation within creative work and in a relationship."[4] Murphy later explained that the song "came from being a bit wry, a bit ironic. It's got a bit of a twinkle in its eye. It's not to be taken too seriously."[3]

Speaking about the record, Murphy wrote:

"There was a desire to make an unquestionably refined record. It’s multi layered, electronic and live instrumentation, musically it goes to places most pop music never does. It’s emotionally bare and laced with irony. I definitely didn’t set out to make something unique per-se but [...] it really is like nothing you’ve ever heard before. So it’s impossible to describe except to say..it’s heartfelt."[5]

Murphy directed accompanying music videos for the singles "Exploitation",[6] "Evil Eyes",[7] "Unputdownable" and "House of Glass".

Music

Harriet Gibsone of The Guardian found "Gone Fishing" contains "Italo-disco [,] house mutations and unusual country diversions".[8] Heather Phares of AllMusic stated second track and second single "Evil Eyes" has an "irresistible groove".[9] Christopher Monk of musicOMH pointed out the "scuttling percussion, Nile Rodgers-esque guitar, [and] atonal piano stabs" of "Exploitation", while Jim Carroll called the lead single "a track where the groove is simple and sparse, works with considerable panache."[10] Phares noted the "synth bass and waggish backing vocals on 'Uninvited Guest'",[9] and called "Exile" "a dreamy bit of torch twang".[9] In her review for Pitchfork Media, Katherine St. Asaph pointed out that "Exile" is "delivered in a wearied whisper".[4] St. Asaph judged "Unputdownable" to be "a traditional Murphy extended metaphor—lover as page-turning book", continuing on to say that "'House of Glass' delivers grand statements, often set stark against the music".[4] Monk described "Hairless Toys (Gotta Hurt)" as a "lovely ballad" and thought "Unputdownable" to "end the album on a downer, before it transforms into something quite uplifting".[11]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic80/100[12]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
Drowned in Sound8/10[13]
The Guardian[8]
The Irish Times[10]
Mixmag8/10[14]
musicOMH[11]
NOW[15]
Pitchfork7.4/10[4]
Q[12]
Uncut[12]

Hairless Toys received positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 80 based on 15 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[12] The Quietus called the album "a complete masterwork," praising Murphy as "still some serious way ahead of her peers."[16] Pitchfork Media called Hairless Toys "the most cerebral work of Murphy's decades-long career" and described it as "all gleaming and immaculate from a distance, sharp and shattered if you get too close."[4] Heather Phares of AllMusic stated that the album "opts for a more personal approach that is so powerful in part because it's so quiet," declaring it "a welcome return and Murphy's most satisfying album yet".[9] Electronic Beats called the album "a decisive step forward and a definitively experimental pop record, delivered with a confidence that defies the brevity expected of chart fodder."[17]

The Guardian wrote that Hairless Toys is "pure, evocative elegance".[8] Reviewing the album for Toronto newspaper Now, Kevin Ritchie named it the album of the week, writing that it "fuses delicate, slow-burning deep-house-type rhythms with pop twang and the odd bit of glittering glam".[15] Mixmag also noted the album's integration of "elegant deep house [...] country-flecked soul, and idiosyncratic downtempo", and called it "a career high".[14] Writing for The Irish Times, Jim Carroll said the eight-year gap between albums for Murphy "has not lessened her knack for beautifully finessed tunes pulled together with sublime electropop belts and braces."[10] Writing for musicOMH, Christopher Monk wrote that the album is "less interested in snagging listeners' ears with catchy hooks or luring them on to the dancefloor, and more interested in building a strange, compelling atmosphere".[11] Drowned in Sound described the album as "a wonderfully dark and seething record" and a work to "absorb alone".[13]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Róisín Murphy and Eddie Stevens. 

No. Title Length
1. "Gone Fishing"   5:57
2. "Evil Eyes"   6:42
3. "Exploitation"   9:23
4. "Uninvited Guest"   5:58
5. "Exile"   4:00
6. "House of Glass"   6:52
7. "Hairless Toys (Gotta Hurt)"   6:18
8. "Unputdownable"   5:14
Total length:
 50:24

Personnel

Credits adapted from album liner notes.[18]

Additional musicians
Technical
Artwork

Charts

Chart (2015) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[19] 57
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[20] 29
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[21] 12
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[22] 47
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[23] 13
German Albums (Official Top 100)[24] 27
Irish Albums (IRMA)[25] 16
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[26] 68
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[27] 25
UK Albums (OCC)[28] 19
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[29] 2

Release history

Region Date Label Format
Australia[30] May 8, 2015 Play It Again Sam
Germany[31]
Ireland[32]
United Kingdom[33] May 11, 2015
United States[34] May 12, 2015

References

  1. 1 2 "iTunes - Music - Exploitation (Single Edit) - Single by Róisín Murphy". Apple Inc. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  2. ↑ "Mercury Prize 2015 shortlist". BBC. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
  3. 1 2 Alley, Jonathan. "Features - MUSIC - Sitting Down with Roisin Murphy - STACK Australia". STACK Magazine. Scribal Custom. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Minsker, Evan (13 April 2015). "Róisín Murphy Shares "Exploitation" Video". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  5. ↑ "Róisín Murphy Says Her New Album Is “Like Nothing You’ve Ever Heard Before”". Music News, Reviews, and Gossip on Idolator.com.
  6. ↑ "Roisin Murphy Releases Her “Exploitation” Video: Watch". Music News, Reviews, and Gossip on Idolator.com.
  7. ↑ Guardian music. "Watch Róisín Murphy's new video for Evil Eyes". the Guardian.
  8. 1 2 3 Gibsone, Harriet (8 May 2015). "Roisin Murphy: Hairless Toys review – exquisite disco darkness | Music | The Guardian". Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Phares, Heather. "Hairless Toys - Róisín Murphy | Songs, Reviews, Credits A". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  10. 1 2 3 Carroll, Jim (8 May 2015). "Róisín Murphy: Hairless Toys | Album Review". The Irish Times. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 Monk, Christopher (12 May 2015). "Róisín Murphy – Hairless Toys | Album Reviews". musicOMH. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "Reviews for Hairless Toys by Róisín Murphy". CBS Interactive. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  13. 1 2 Beardsworth, Luke (12 May 2015). "Album Review: Roisin Murphy - Hairless Toys / Releases". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  14. 1 2 "Roisin Murphy - Reviews - Mixmag". Mixmag. Development Hell. 8 April 2015. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  15. 1 2 Ritchie, Kevin (6 May 2015). ">>> Album of the week: Róisín Murphy - NOW Toronto Magazine - Think Press". Now Communications. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  16. ↑ "The Quietus - Reviews - Róisín Murphy". The Quietus.
  17. ↑ Telekom. "This is Why Róisín Murphy Doesn't Give a Fuck Anymore". Electronic Beats.
  18. ↑ Hairless Toys (CD liner notes). Róisín Murphy. Play It Again Sam. 2015. PIASL152CD.
  19. ↑ Ryan, Gavin (16 May 2015). "ARIA Albums: Ed Sheeran X Returns To Number 1". Noise11. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  20. ↑ "austriancharts.at - Róisín Murphy - Hairless Toys". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
  21. ↑ "ultratop.be - Róisín Murphy - Hairless Toys". Ultratop and Hung Medien. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  22. ↑ "ultratop.be - Róisín Murphy - Hairless Toys". Ultratop and Hung Medien. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  23. ↑ "dutchcharts.nl - Róisín Murphy - Hairless Toys". Hung Medien. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  24. ↑ "Offizielle Deutsche Charts - Róisín Murphy - Hairless Toys". GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  25. ↑ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 20, 2015". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  26. ↑ "spanishcharts.com - Róisín Murphy - Hairless Toys". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  27. ↑ "hitparade.ch - Róisín Murphy - Hairless Toys". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
  28. ↑ "{{{artist}}} | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  29. ↑ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  30. ↑ "iTunes - Music - Hairless Toys by Róisín Murphy". Apple Inc. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  31. ↑ "Hairless Toys: Amazon.de: Musik" (in German). Amazon.de. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  32. ↑ "Murphy,roisin - Hairless Toys[digi] - CD - Tower Records Dublin Ireland". Tower Records. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  33. ↑ "iTunes - Music - Hairless Toys by Róisín Murphy". Apple Inc. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  34. ↑ "Amazon.com: Roisin Murphy: Hairless Toys: Music". Amazon.com. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
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