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Hot on the slinky heels of the slow-burning dancefloor smash “Incapable”, which spent this summer burning up clubs from one end of the globe to the other, Róisín Murphy today shares the hard-driven, string-drenched, disco EPIC “Narcissus”. 

Both tracks are co-produced/written with long-time Murphy collaborator, DJ Parrot aka Crooked Man, and continue to showcase the fruits of their ongoing creative pairing,  a collaborative friendship which has sustained over decades. “My association with Parrot goes way back to the beginning of my life in music. I moved from Manchester to Sheffield when I was 19 and right from the off I became part of a close-knit music-scene of which Parrot was an integral part. I worked with him first on a project called Spook, a deep house cover-version of Grace Jones ‘s Feel-Up and later with Pulp, on a version of E’s and Wizz. And then again with All Seeing Eye and Tony Christy. Parrot also contributed a good deal to my album Overpowered,”  Murphy explains.

But now there is a palpable sense of culmination building around the pair; “Incapable and Narcissus most definitely belong to a growing project produced by Parrot for me, it began a few years ago with “Stimulation” and “Jealousy”. This project was always meant to be about House and Disco, it’s always had a strong identity. It’s about the moment when the high kicks in, about trying to find the components of euphoria, however counter-intuitive those experiments might be. And it’s beginning to feel like the time is right to draw it all together into a bigger thing” 

But that’s all to come, for now, we can enjoy “Narcissus” and appreciate its ambition. The exquisite string arrangement by Eddie Stevens is an evocation of a time where disco reigned supreme, it’s elegant, yet the driving melodies are infused with an irresistible strut, and Murphy’s vocals alternately soulful and powerful. The result is one of Murphy’s finest cuts to date – an effortlessly sophisticated and infectious banger which is still streaked through with Murphy’s unmistakable sense of style and mischief.

“The themes in Narcissus and Incapable are different sides of the same coin. In Incapable the archetype was the cold narcissist, idly wondering, in a purely self-interested way, if she is missing out on something? With love beyond her grasp. In Narcissus the voice is the eternal and primal presence of the Nymph, endlessly trying to wake you out of your you-dream. Calling for abandon, prescribing chaos over control and warning of the dreadful, imminent DANGER IN THE MIRROR.”  

Listen to ‘Narcissus’ – BELOW: