Roisin Murphy, ABC, Glasgow, gig review: Fabulously visual and highly entertaining

In the words of her own ‘Gone Fishing’, there’s no such thing as overkill

“When I was a child I used to do a lot of dressing up,” declares Roisin Murphy, and everyone laughs knowingly along with her. Over the breadth of this show the recent Mercury Prize nominee for ‘Hairless Toys’ averages a costume change per song, wondrous home-made creations including items resembling a koala face mask, a red sequinned dog’s scratch cone and a large, black fur helmet.

“I used to dress as a Chinese woman with two naked dolls, waving at traffic and trying to make people smile,” she reminisces.Even on mute, this fabulously visual show would have been highly entertaining.

Yet sonically, it’s just as stunning. Murphy rides the crest of a wave of precise, compelling electronic pop, over a bubbling surf of playful experimentation that’s as ramshackle but brilliant as her dancing. She breathes some of her vocals in lusty Italian, and plays ‘Jealousy’ against an infectious disco bassline.

‘Exploitation’ is a small masterpiece, a minimal club track into which she weaves the lyrics of her Moloko hit ‘Sing It Back’; her old band’s music makes further appearances, including the finale of ‘Pure Pleasure Seeker’, an unlikely counterpoint to the slow country croon of the preceding ‘Exile’. “I've loved you tonight, haven't I Glasgow?” she asks, and it sounds like an order. In the words of her own ‘Gone Fishing’, there’s no such thing as overkill.