Any journalist will tell you about the unbearable wait of those final few minutes before an interview. A liminal loophole where two minutes can feel more like two hours. They will also tell you that the wait only grows more surreal when you are about to interview someone you are a fan of, and on this occasion, that’s exactly the situation I’m in.
Having just landed following a flight from Mexico, birdsong provided the backing track to our conversation, their tune travelling to me here in London from Murphy’s native Ireland. "Where are you from then?" she asks me seconds into the call, echoing a pitch-perfect imitation of my own Northern accent. Very rarely do people get the Leeds lilt quite right, but Murphy nails it, dropping in and out of the accent throughout our conversation.
