Rapidly rising star Mura Masa joined fans at Nottingham's Metronome last week to debut tracks from his recently released new record, which were, needless to say, received with great enthusiasm. Words by Lara Gelmetti. Images by Jade Vowels (@jadekmedia).
On January 17th, to celebrate the release of his new album R.Y.C (Raw Youth Collage), multi-talented producer Mura Masa (Alexander Crossan) performed a sold-out show live at Nottingham’s Metronome.
Released earlier on the same day, R.Y.C (Rough Youth Collage) jumps from electronic sounds, steel drums and woodblocks to guitar, punk rock, and the debut of his own vocals. The driving force of the new album being the theme of nostalgia sets this record aside from Mura Masa’s previous works, with a new, rebranded style more influenced by punk.
Mura Masa opened the show with his latest single I Don’t Think I Can Do This Again. This high energy, new-wave track is a mind-bending combination of rock and dance that lifted the crowd with its brilliant guitar synths. He continued this fun vibe for the next few tracks, playing popular hits including Nuggets, 1 Night, and Complicated.
Next, he dived deep into the territory of his newest album. As a multi-instrumentalist, Mura Masa can pull off almost any sound, which is particularly evident with his latest music. During the gig, he played a variety of different instruments and serenaded us with his strong vocals as he belted out No Hope Generation, followed by vicarious living anthem. Possibly the best track on the new record, Deal Wiv It got the crowd excited with its upbeat tempo, punk-rock aesthetic, and overall fun vibe. During In My Mind, Mura Masa managed to get the whole crowd to get down low just before the second chorus. He then took the tempo down a notch with Today, one of the album’s mellower tracks.
Although he was frequently switching up the sound, each song fit within his same recognisable style.
Even though there wasn’t much commentary during the show, Mura Masa had two incredible female vocalists with him to cover his songs and keep the crowd alive and engaged – the popular song What If I Go? had the whole crowd jumping. This was then followed up with two more catchy tracks from the new album; the groove Live Like We’re Dancing with its disco-funk rock guitar, and the gospel-like chorus and dream-pop sound of Teenage Headache Dreams.
The set ended with a highly anticipated encore performance of some of Mura Masa’s biggest tracks to date, Love$ick and Firefly, which proved to be the best two songs of the night. All the fans in the room sang along to every word, making the crowd feel connected. With this solid conclusion and an overall incredibly impressive set, the intimate Mura Masa gig on Friday night at Metronome lived up to all of our expectations.
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