Take Her Up to Monto

Take Her Up to Monto was recorded during the same sessions as Murphy's 2015 album Hairless Toys, and included producer and longtime collaborator Eddie Stevens.{{cite web|last=Monroe|first=Jazz|title=Róisín Murphy Announces New Album Take Her Up To Monto, Shares "Mastermind"|url=https://pitchfork.com/news/64910-roisin-murphy-announces-new-album-take-her-up-to-monto-shares-mastermind-listen/|website=Pitchfork|date=19 April 2016 |accessdate=29 June 2016|archive-date=24 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624123526/http://pitchfork.com/news/64910-roisin-murphy-announces-new-album-take-her-up-to-monto-shares-mastermind-listen/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|last=Ediriwira|first=Amar|url=https://thevinylfactory.com/films/roisin-murphy-ten-miles-high-music-video/|title=Róisín Murphy exhibits a twisted London in new video 'Ten Miles High'|website=The Vinyl Factory|date=17 May 2016|accessdate=5 July 2019|archive-date=5 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190705042942/https://thevinylfactory.com/films/roisin-murphy-ten-miles-high-music-video/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|last=Lobenfeld|first=Claire|title=Róisín Murphy announces Take Her Up to Monto, shares track 'Mastermind'|url=http://www.factmag.com/2016/04/19/roisin-murphy-mastermind/|website=Fact|date=19 April 2016 |accessdate=29 June 2016|archive-date=10 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160810130111/http://www.factmag.com/2016/04/19/roisin-murphy-mastermind/|url-status=live}} The title is derived from an Irish folk song of the same name, popularised by The Dubliners in the 1960s, which Murphy's father sang to her as a child.{{cite press release|url=http://mushroompromotions.com/bios/album-bio-roisin-murphy-take-her-up-to-monto-play-it-again-sampias-out-friday-8-july-2016/|title=Album Bio: Róisín Murphy – Take Her Up to Monto [Play It Again Sam/PIAS] (Out Friday, 8 July 2016)|publisher=Mushroom Promotions|accessdate=29 June 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820104216/http://mushroompromotions.com/bios/album-bio-roisin-murphy-take-her-up-to-monto-play-it-again-sampias-out-friday-8-july-2016/|archivedate=20 August 2016}} Monto is the nickname of Dublin's old red-light district.{{cite web|title=Róisín Murphy Takes Her Up To Monto on new album|url=http://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2016/0419/782883-roisin-murphy-takes-em-up-to-monto-on-new-album/|website=RTÉ|date=19 April 2016 |accessdate=19 July 2016|archive-date=17 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817075858/http://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2016/0419/782883-roisin-murphy-takes-em-up-to-monto-on-new-album/|url-status=live}}

The album's release was preceded by two tracks, "Mastermind" and "Ten Miles High", as well as Murphy's self-directed video for the latter, which was filmed in London. Comparing the album with its predecessor, Murphy stated that "the visual language has changed. Less reference, a more aggressively modern aesthetic. It's about the London that I live in, it's a lot about architecture, it's about building and the future coming, its about here! It's a bit fizzier and more present tense, irreverent, with guerilla filming, montage and crazy shit. I hope it's a realism that makes you feel good about being alive."

Take Her Up to Monto received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 77, based on 21 reviews. Mixmag described the album as "another reminder of why [Murphy] has more charm, chutzpah and ideas than most of her peers put together," calling it "a complex and endlessly enjoyable record." Now described it as "an album of extremes, following its own wandering logic," suggesting "it feels as though she wants to see how much she can reduce her theatrical pop image into something small and seemingly impermanent." In Exclaim!, Anna Alger wrote "Her songs on this record often feel like symphonies, with multiple movements evolving throughout a five-to-seven-minute period."{{cite web |last=Alger |first=Anna |url=http://exclaim.ca/music/article/r_is_n_murphy-take_her_up_to_monto |title=Róisín Murphy – Take Her Up to Monto |work=Exclaim! |date=6 July 2016 |accessdate=5 August 2016 |archive-date=10 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160710074311/http://exclaim.ca/music/article/r_is_n_murphy-take_her_up_to_monto |url-status=live }}

{{Track listing

| all_writing = Róisín Murphy and Eddie Stevens

| title1 = Mastermind

| length1 = 6:35

| title2 = Pretty Gardens

| length2 = 5:07

| title3 = Thoughts Wasted

| length3 = 5:22

| title4 = Lip Service

| length4 = 4:27

| title5 = Ten Miles High

| length5 = 5:19

| title6 = Whatever

| length6 = 2:53

| title7 = Romantic Comedy

| length7 = 5:36

| title8 = Nervous Sleep

| length8 = 7:41

| title9 = Sitting and Counting

| length9 = 3:57

}}

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Take Her Up to Monto.{{cite AV media notes |title=Take Her Up to Monto |type=liner notes |others=Róisín Murphy |publisher=Play It Again Sam |year=2016 |id=PIASR875CDX}}

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• Róisín Murphy – lead vocals {{small|(all tracks)}}; backing vocals {{small|(tracks 2, 6)}}
• Eddie Stevens – all keyboards, male vocals; programming {{small|(all tracks)}}; percussion, flutes, guitar {{small|(track 3)}}; violin {{small|(tracks 3, 4)}}; floor toms {{small|(track 6)}}
• Rhianna Kenny – backing vocals {{small|(tracks 2, 4, 6)}}
• Jodie Scantlebury – backing vocals {{small|(tracks 2, 4, 6)}}
• Rob Mullarkey – bass {{small|(track 2)}}
• Dave De Rose – drums {{small|(tracks 2, 5)}}; floor toms {{small|(track 6)}}
• Jamie McCredie – guitar {{small|(tracks 4, 5)}}
• Ally McNeil – additional programming {{small|(track 5)}}

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• Eddie Stevens – production
• Mark Allaway – additional recording {{small|(at Fish Factory, London)}}
• Darius van Helfteren – mastering {{small|(at Amsterdam Mastering, Amsterdam)}}

• Róisín Murphy – design, art direction, video concept, video direction
• Ian Anderson – design, art direction
• Ben Wearing – director of photography
• Katie Lambert – video production

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Category:2016 albums

Category:PIAS Recordings albums

Category:Róisín Murphy albums

Category:2010s in Irish music