Without Roisin Murphy's sultry vocals and eccentric image, Moloko would have been just another dance band. So now that the ditzy Wicklow girl has decided to go solo, it's just as well that she's found a producer who's almost as much of a maverick as she is. Matthew Herbert really pulls out all the stops here, adding bizarre sound effects to a collection of electro-jazz noodlings, cabaret tunes and white noise freakouts. Murphy, meanwhile, rises to the occasion with vocals that are alternately tender, defiant and often downright sexy. Ruby Blue is far more experimental than anything Moloko ever did, and it's an album that takes its time to reveal its true charms. But it's more than worth the effort.
