Moloko (pron.: /məˈloʊkoʊ/) were an Anglo-Irish electronic/trip-hop duo from Sheffield, England consisting of Róisín Murphy from Wicklow, Ireland and Mark Brydon, from Sunderland, England. The band's name originates from the Nadsat slang in the novel A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, in which it means "milk" (from the Russian word for milk, молоко), actually the name of a milk drink that Alex and his "droogs" consume mixed with "drencrom".
Murphy, born in Arklow, Ireland, had no prior professional experience as a singer when Moloko was formed. Brydon, on the other hand, already had an extensive curriculum vitae within the dance music community as a remixer and member of Chakk, Krush and Cloud 9. They met at a party in Sheffield, England, when Murphy approached Brydon using the chat-up line, "Do you like my tight sweater? See how it fits my body!" This line would later become the title of their debut album, recorded while the pair were dating.
The first two albums Do You Like My Tight Sweater? and I Am Not a Doctor gained notice in the underground dance scene. The band broke into the mainstream when "Sing It Back", an album track from I Am Not A Doctor, was remixed by house music producer Boris Dlugosch. The track was a massive hit in Ibiza, and this remixed version broke into the top-five in both the Irish Singles Charts, and the UK singles chart in 1999, and also, helped by a psychedelic video featuring Murphy in a very short metallic "flapper" dress and cap. "Sing It Back" has featured on over 100 music compilations.
In January and February 1999, Moloko supported Garbage on their Version 2.0 tour. This was not a successful liaison, with the Garbage crowd particularly unwelcoming at the Wembley Arena date.
In 2000 Moloko started touring as a full band along with percussionist Paul Slowley, keyboardist Eddie Stevens, and guitarist Dave Cooke.
The band also had chart success with "The Time Is Now", the first single from the third album, Things to Make and Do. This album had relied less on the left field beats of the previous albums, and featured more organic instrumentation as well as musically more multifaceted arrangements by Eddie Stevens.
Murphy and Brydon ended their relationship in 2001. After their breakup, they recorded and released their fourth studio album, Statues. Statues continued a segue into more traditional instrumentation, along with electronica elements from their earlier releases. Statues incorporated the theme of the couple's split: all of the songs deal with a troubled and/or ending romance.
In 2004 Moloko released a live DVD, 11,000 Clicks, recorded on stage at the Brixton Academy, England. It contained many of their well known songs including "Indigo", "Sing It Back", and "The Time Is Now".
After concluding the tour supporting Statues, Moloko mutually parted ways, with Murphy launching a solo career. However, in 2006 Murphy and Brydon, along with long-time Moloko guitarist Cooke, played a select number of acoustic radio performances to promote the Moloko best of album Catalogue. While both currently pursue projects outside of Moloko and state that there are no plans for Moloko at the moment, Murphy has been keen to stress that the group are not necessarily defunct and that she has no interest in "burying" the project.
Róisín Murphy completed work on her second solo album Overpowered in 2007, released in October of the same year, while Mark Brydon is working on a number of smaller projects in his own studio.