Trip-Hop Thursdays: Moloko

Moloko had a nice 11 year run from 1995-2006 before the duo split up. The duo consisted of Róisín Murphy from Wicklow, Ireland and Mark Brydon, from Sunderland, England. The music was blended with trip-hop, nu-jazz, and a electronic pop feel. Moloko’s short stay in the world of trip-hop was considered somewhat short, but in 11 years, they’ve made a impressive impact without the whole force popularity they deserved.

If you’ve heard the word “Moloko” before it’s because you’ve read A Clockwork Orange, seen the movie, or both. The name came from the milk that the main character Alex and his “droogs” drank. The way Moloko came up with the name is probably just as strange as when they came up with the name of their debut album. Mark and Róisín both met at a party in England when Róisín approached Mark with the line, “Do you like my tight sweater? See how it fits my body!”, which lead to their debut album name “Do you like my tight sweater?”. The debut album was recorded while the pair were dating.

Moloko didn’t break into the mainstream until their album track “Sing it Back” from their second album “I Am Not A Doctor”, was remixed by Boris Dlugosch. It became a massive hit and broke into the Irish Singles Charts and UK singles chart in 1999.

Murphy and Brydon ended their relationship in 2001. After their breakup, they recorded and released their fourth studio album, Statues. Statues continued a segue into more traditional instrumentation, along with electronica elements from their earlier releases. Statues incorporated the theme of the couple’s split: all of the songs deal with a troubled and/or ending romance.

After concluding the tour supporting Statues, Moloko mutually parted ways, with Murphy launching a solo career. However, in 2006 Murphy and Brydon, along with long-time Moloko guitarist Cooke, played a select number of acoustic radio performances to promote the Moloko best of album Catalogue. While both currently pursue projects outside of Moloko and state that there are no plans for Moloko at the moment, Murphy has been keen to stress that the group are not necessarily defunct and that she has no interest in “burying” the project.

Róisín Murphy completed work on her second solo album Overpowered in 2007, released in October of the same year, while Mark Brydon is working on a number of smaller projects in his own studio.

In the end result, Moloko ended their journey in the world of trip-hop with several great singles and four full length albums. 11 years in the game and even after their relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend ended, they managed to keep their music alive and ongoing. Now going their own separate ways in the world of solo and other studio projects, they bear what remains of Moloko. It almost seems like if the duo itself