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Pauline Murray \ The Invisible Box

Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls is the debut album by postpunk icon Pauline Murray, co-produced by revered sonic architect Martin 'Zero' Hannett.

A limited edition hand-stamped 'Invisible Box' set (100 copies only) is available including both the double vinyl and double CD formats plus the bonus instrumentals CD, a portrait print personally signed by Pauline and Robert and a unique PM t-shirt designed by Vaughan Oliver (of 23 Envelope/4AD) in 1981. Each box is also numbered with invisible ink (which shows up under UV light) The box set is priced at £50.00 GBP plus shipping at cost and available to order now (please state preferred t-shirt size).

Reviews:

"Like Buzzcocks singer Pete Shelley's disco-literate solo debut Homosapien, this 1980 outing from the eternally breathless Pauline Murray represented a stylistic bridge between the new wave and the new pop of The Human League and beyond. With a timelessly chisellved Peter Saville sleeve adding to its reputaion as a Factory release manqué, the clean lines, sparkling surfaces and elegant details of Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls bear the hallmarks of Joy Division producer Martin Hannett, and such stylishly unobtrusive guests as Vini Reilly and Buzzcocks drummer John Maher. Murray concedes that she absented herself from the studio for a time, convinced that she was losing control of her own album. Letting go, though, is a thrilling option on Dream Sequence, with Thundertunes and the Ultravox! Eurofunk of Mr X marking further giddy steps into the future. 8/10. Extras include single tracks, a Peel session and a second disc of live material, while an extra CD appended to the vinyl edition boats an instrumental version of the album, and more proto-versions of key tracks" (Uncut, 11/2014)

"Sparkling pop-tronica - 4/5. Martin Hannett's production wizardry echoes his work for Magazine rather than Joy Division, big on treble and clarity. Murray's effervescence is high in the mix with sessioneers Vini Reilly, John Maher, Robert Blamire and Steve Hopkins providing a tightly meshed springboard. European Eyes echoes Penetration's coarse energy, and overall it's rougher than the clean lines of Dare by the Human League (that was the other Martin, Rushent), but it's still the essence of pop, and non-album single Searching for Heaven is the finest of the lot" (Mojo, 11/2014)

"Murray and Blamire have produced something that's a mighty long way from punk. Lovely songs of anxiety, malaise and self-doubt. Pauline Murray sings of the love of love, fear of fear, or suspicion and retribution, and consistently captures the drama in a dream. Hannett's production is cracking, ornate yet never opaque, discretely echoed and gently warped to the point of hallucination... This is sophistication, and it's nothing to be ashamed of. There is no pretence that a ragged edge of a discordant solo is the password to credibility. The music is wildly eclectic - look for Chic slick, Springsteen hope and glory, Wonder resource, gothic spaciousness, post-punk passion... Murray's personal touches, the quiet fire of her bewilderment and almost lullaby-like disillusionment transforming it into a great work of passion" (NME (Paul Morley), 10/1980)

"Unquestionably a musical highpoint of this year or any other. An exciting new area of electronic pop where Motown meets the modern world" (Melody Maker, 10/1980)

"Think of the most addictive Abba and the most positive Joy Division, and these songs have an effect somewhere in between, very pretty but very hard. Hannett's drum snap is there, but it's also among his warmest, most sympathetic works, providing the airy, breathy support a voice like Pauline Murray's cries out for" (Record Mirror, 10/1980)