Róisín Machine

Róisín Machine is the fifth solo studio album by Irish singer Róisín Murphy, released 2 October 2020 by Skint Records. The album received critical acclaim upon its release, ranking among the year's best by several publications. Commercially, Róisín Machine became Murphy's highest-charting album in both Ireland and the UK, debuting at number five and number 14 respectively. The remix album Crooked Machine was released 30 April 2021.
Background
According to Murphy, work began on what would become Róisín Machine a decade prior to its release, during which time she maintained an active presence in the industry, undertaking several releases including the Italian language EP Mi Senti (2014), studio albums Hairless Toys (2015) and Take Her Up to Monto (2016), and a series of EPs with Maurice Fulton in 2018.
However, the impetus for the album came as Skint Records founder Damian Harris returned to the label as creative director in 2019. Harris helped drive the project forward, persuading Murphy to sign a recording contract with Skint Records and its parent label BMG, although Murphy negotiated the contract to be a one-album deal as she "wanted to keep  options open".
Recording and production
"Simulation" was the first track on the record to be created, produced by her long-term collaborator Richard Barratt (also known as DJ Parrot and Crooked Man), and released through Permanent Vacation in 2012. In 2015, she released "Jealousy" through Crosstown Rebels, also produced by Barratt. Both were released as standalone tracks and did not appear on her subsequent studio album, Hairless Toys (2015), or its successor, Take Her Up to Monto (2016). Following these releases, Murphy continued to collaborate intermittently with Barratt, working in "drips and drabs over the years", on projects that would later develop into a full studio album.
Although Murphy intended the tracks to be part of an album, she and Barratt parked the idea for some time. Murphy then released a string of EPs in collaboration with Maurice Fulton in 2018, opting to release a third single with Barratt, "Incapable", once her project with Fulton was complete. "Incapable" was released via Bitter End in 2019, with the single billed as another one-off release. Speaking to the Sheffield Star, Murphy said: "You just get a bit of a burst every now and again. It's an insatiable machine, now, isn't it—content, and music. You've just got to keep feeding it, and it's just about manageable with one-off singles." Murphy had written "Incapable" in 2010, following her breakup from artist Simon Henwood, nine months after their daughter was born.
Barratt and Murphy would typically work remotely while producing and recording the album; Barratt would put the music together at his studio in Sheffield, sending the track on to Murphy to record her vocals at her home in London and send them back. According to Barratt, he used Logic 5.5 "from 1998" as his digital audio workstation for the entire record. Describing her home recording setup, Murphy said: "It's not quite a studio. I've got an Ableton rig at my house in London, which is purely for recording and working on vocals  I really just need a laptop, an interface and a mic."
On occasions, Barratt would request Murphy re-record her vocals in Sheffield to ensure a better take, saying: "Unless you're recording very intimate and restrained vocals, it's difficult for any singer to record themselves at home. You're having to piss about with a computer and thinking about levels, when all you should be doing is singing. Sometimes, it's good to do stuff in a studio with a booth and an engineer." Finishing the album's recording during the COVID-19 pandemic, Murphy described the experience of travelling from London to Sheffield during lockdown restrictions as "creepy", recalling "walking down deserted streets and being totally freaked out." As a result, she felt "sure some of that intense feeling found its way into the songs."