Bonnaroo 2024 Artist Spotlight: Róisín Murphy

Like we’ve been doing for many years now, we’re making it our mission to help you get acquainted with many of our favorite acts from Bonnaroo‘s 2024 lineup. After roaring back to life in 2022, after two years off due to Covid and weather, and feeling fully like its old self again with a great fest last summer, this year marks Bonnaroo’s 21st installment (and 23rd anniversary), boasting not only another great and varied lineup, but also a continuation of some of the big changes and improvements rolled out over the last couple of years, with more flexibility in ticketing and camping, a reimagined “Outeroo” campground area, new activations, and further new ways to Roo. Back once again in its usual June 13-16 timeframe, we’re counting down the days until another great weekend on the farm.

As we dig through the entire schedule, we’ll highlight a spread of performers spanning across genres and stages, big and small, new and old, to bring you some of the most interesting, lesser-known, and most highly-recommended among this year’s crop of artists. And as our time at ‘Roo approaches, we’ll also be bringing you some special features and full list-style daily lineup guides, to help you plan your weekend ahead of the fest. While these previews won’t span every artist, and might omit some more obvious must-see acts, we hope they’ll serve as a way to help you navigate Bonnaroo’s gargantuan lineup, and to make the most of your busy weekend at the fest!

Grab your tickets right here if you haven’t already, and read on for our Bonnaroo Artist Spotlight!

LEARN

Born and raised near Dublin, Ireland, pop singer Róisín Murphy moved with her family to Manchester, England at 12, opting to remain in England alone three years later when her parents divorced and returned to Ireland. Immersed in the English music scene of the late ’80s, Murphy began attending concerts and decided to pursue a career as a singer, briefly joining a post-punk band as a teen, before relocating to Sheffield and becoming active in the city’s club scene. It was a chance meeting at a party in 1994 with British producer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Brydon, however, that really kickstarted Róisín’s career, with the pair entering into a romantic and creative partnership, and forming electronic pop band Moloko. The duo would remain active for a decade, finding initial acclaim for trip hop and acid jazz infused 1995 debut Do You Like My Tight Sweater? and 1998 electronica leaning followup I Am Not a Doctor, before achieving wider commercial success at the turn of the millennium with more organic, experimental dance record Things to Make and Do in 2000, and the pair’s final LP, Statues, in 2003. After the dissolution of their relationship and a musical impasse, the pair went their separate ways, and Murphy kicked off a solo career, beginning with 2005’s avant-pop and alt dance and nu jazz inspired Ruby Blue, helmed by electronic producer Matthew Herbert, before taking a more conventional dance and electropop approach with 2007 followup Overpowered. Róisín would recede a little from the spotlight in the late 2000s and early 2010s, occasionally dropping one-off singles or collaborations with side projects and other artists, before emerging in 2015 with resonant return to form Hairless Toys, then dropping electronic and art pop followup Take Her Up to Monto the following year. Now based in Ibiza after spending years between London and Ireland, the now 50 year old Murphy has earned a well-deserved reputation as the queen of Irish avant-garde, electro, and art pop, and has continued to craft some of he best and most inspired work over the last few years, drawing influence from disco and house music on 2020’s Róisín Machine, and infusing soul, hip hop, and psychedelia into her avant-garde electropop sound on last year’s magnificent DJ Koze-produced Hit Parade. Perhaps not the household name stateside as she is overseas, Róisín Murphy is nonetheless one of the most significant and interesting dance pop singers of her generation, and 30 years in to making music, she feels as vibrant and relevant as ever! Bonnaroo really nailed it with the late night time slot, and we urge you to stay up and soak up the vibes!

WATCH | “Overpowered” (Official Video)