Róisín Murphy returned from hibernation earlier this year to ring in “silly season” with a rapturous bird call from the heart. On her latest single, “The Universe,” from her forthcoming DJ Koze-produced album Hit Parade, the Irish diva celebrates by dialing the absurdity up to 10. Over an out-of-time electric guitar strum, she conjures up a perfect day, luxuriating in gorgeous weather and waves nudging her sailboat along.
If this sounds like the faux-gratitude of a caftan-wearing “live laugh love” type, Murphy is down to ham it up. Zapping in and out of the mix, the singer adopts an ultra-processed, Arklow-via-Long Island accent to narrate her internal dialogue: marveling over a psychedelic sunset, gawking at the sight of her captain abandoning ship. It’s a bonkers detour, so she swerves into an even weirder direction: interpolating “Row Row Row Your Boat.” You can’t quite call “The Universe” smooth sailing, but following Murphy’s bottomless weirdness is its own remarkable ride.
