The musicians – and mutual fans – get together virtually to discuss their influences, post-pandemic performance and Anderson’s groundbreaking O Superman 40 years on. Introduction by Jude Rogers
“I’m going to show you my new gong – check it out!” Laurie Anderson is giving a new friend a tour of her flat on New York’s west side, jiggling through the corridors with her laptop. In a north
London living room, Róisín Murphy is in her glasses, grinning, leaning into the screen. “I needed a gong to just bong, you know,” Anderson explains. “I really needed to beat a gong once in a while!”
At 74, Anderson remains the
American Queen of avant-garde art-pop. She recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of O Superman – her astonishing vocoder-led hit, inspired by the Iranian hostage crisis, technology and the operas of Massenet – with a reissue of its parent album, Big Science, on lipstick-red vinyl. Murphy’s career began with chart hits with Moloko in the 1990s, before she strode out as an adventurous, independent DIY solo artist, stretching at the seams of progressive pop and disco in unusual ways. She has released 25 singles, five extended plays and five LPs (including 2015’s Mercury-nominated Hairless Toys), mixing in performance art, philosophical lyrics and fantastic
fashion.