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Tracklisting
1) Leaving The City
2) Sinking Feeling
3) Night of the Dancing Flame
4) Through Time
5) Sow Into You
6) Dear Diary
7) If We’re In Love
8) Ramalama (Bang Bang)
9) Ruby Blue
10) Off on It
11) Prelude to Love in the Making
12) The Closing of the Doors
Ruby Blue is the debut album from Róisín Murphy, who was originally the vocalist for the duo Moloko, and was released after the pair disbanded (due to a lovers spat, believe it or not, since they were lovers and all.) It was released on the 13th of June, 2005.
Well, May’s almost gone, and I thought it was time to do a special review for the month. I’m currently procrastinating in reviewing Ayu and YAZIMA, and I’m waiting until my copies of BONNIE PINK and MEG’s albums get here to review those. Plus, this’ll actually listen to the album, which I’ve been kind of procrastinating on.
Anyway, Róisín’s debut solo effort is a rather… Odd experience. Moloko was a duo known for their dancier tunes, and Ruby Blue, to an extent, continues that trend. However, it’s not so much a dance album as an experiment of sorts. A big thing with this album is the lack of a conventional sound, or the lack of normal methods being used to get these unconventional sounds. There are a lot of gritty, heavy synths that don’t often mix together as you’d expect a melody for a song to go. A few songs even do this on purpose.
This is apparent in a few tracks, but the most relevant would have to be the opening track, Leaving The City. It’s a loud, chaotic track made up of a calm verse that uses a number of out-of-tune instruments and unmatching synths, leading into a completely random and highly chaotic chorus that doesn’t really do much apart from deafen you. There’s also Ramalama (Bang Bang), which is just a big mix of overly mechanical sounds and vocals that don’t work together well enough to keep me interested (the horrid opening doesn’t help either), and Off on It, which is just a bit too dull and mechanical to contain much of interest, either.
There are definitely quite a few good tracks here. For example, there’s the funk, swing-rhythm If We’re In Love, which is both the tamest song on the album, and it’s also the best. The sound is still sort of unconventional and different, but there’s some brass there to break it out of the synth-only rutt. Róisín’s vocals can be a bit shaky at times, but that’s mainly near the end of the song in the higher section. Then there’s probably the strangest, most outlandish song, Sow Into You. Once again, it features the odd synths, but there is a heavy usage of brass here, too. It’s outlandish because of its lyrics: The whole song is basically using lyrics relating to rain and farm harvests, while the way the song is written is relating them to love and sex instead, making it a rather interesting, if not quirky experience. Special mention should also go to the title track, Ruby Blue, which uses an overdriven guitar to give it a distinctive sound that stands out from the synth-and-brass we’ve heard so far.
It all goes well together because of the similar experimental style used throughout the album, but the main issue here would probably be that it’s so outlandishly different. It could make it hard for people to get into depending on their musical tastes, and even if you like this kind of music it may be a bit TOO out there to get into. There is a rather diverse selection of sounds, but it’s better to take it slow. Start off with a song like If We’re In Love, and ease in to it before going into the rest of it, or it might just give the wrong impression.
Album Score
B-
Favorite Tracks
1) If We’re In Love
2) Ruby Blue
3) Sow Into You
4) Sinking Feeling
Compared to many other dance albums out there, Ruby Blue will probably rub any first-time listeners in a very wrong manner. If anyone feels compelled to try this album, I suggest you stick it out. It’s a grower, but the majority of the songs here are, in reality, extremely catchy, and at least one should catch your attention. Don’t expect anything like Lady Gaga or the like, because you won’t find it here.
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