A couple months back, the Irish dance-pop maverick Róisín Murphy released “CooCool,” a team-up with the German producer DJ Koze. Today, she’s announcing a new album, Hit Parade, which was produced entirely with Koze and will be out in September.

“We worked remotely, in different countries sending tracks/ideas back and forth for several years,” Murphy explained in a statement. “I always have to approach a new collaboration with openness and a willingness to learn and never more so than with this.”

Today, she’s releasing the album’s lead single “The Universe.” “The universe at large is playful and terrifying. There is no discernible sense to it,” is how Murphy prefaces the track. “The story that is always being told is on multiple levels, levels we don’t see or understand. The experience of being alive is to be continually reminded of how utterly unaware we are of what is really going on all around us.”

Check it out alongside Murphy’s full statement on the album below.

This record is a collaboration with DJ Koze. We worked remotely, in different countries sending tracks/ideas back and forth for several years. I always have to approach a new collaboration with openness and a willingness to learn and never more so than with this. 

The studio in this case was imaginary, in the airspace between Hamburg and London. That meant we were both in a personal, private place when working on the songs. For me that brought out a more intimate approach to the songwriting, I told this album my secrets. For Koze it meant total freedom and absolute focus without the distraction of my presence. He too took a deep dive into himself and I believe that’s why the music is so vibrant and alive. It is just exploding with colour! 

It’s a joyful record, I’ve never been happier, that is partly down to personal reasons but also in my work I’ve been very fulfilled. For me the record is about love and sensuality but also it’s about music itself and how it’s always been there for me. There are tinges of darkness, of the abyss, as well as all the joy. There’s contemplation of mortality which is meant to serve as reminder to me (and perhaps you the listener) to really live while we can.

TRACKLIST:
01 “What Not To Do”
02 “CooCool”
03 “The Universe”
04 “Hurtz So Bad”
05 “The House”
06 “Spacetime”
07 “Fader”
08 “Free Will”
09 “You Knew”
10 “Can’t Replicate”
11 “Crazy Ants Reprise”
12 “Two Ways”
13 “Eureka”

Hit Parade is out 9/8 via Ninja Tune. Pre-order it here.