Rating: 8/10
By Kieran Clark
Mura Masa is starting this decade with his beautiful album ‘R.Y.C’, what can only be described as a coming of age album. With its lo-fi influences, intertwined with both dance music and guitar music themes, this album catalogues a whole variety of songs that create a glorious piece of art. With guest artists such as Clairo, Slowthai, and Ellie Roswell of Wolf Alice, Mura Masa has honed elements from each to create songs that blend their individual merits, and his own song writing flair.
Stand out tracks for me include ‘Raw College Youth’; a beautiful intro setting up the fusion element of the album; ‘a meeting at an oak tree’; A spoken word piece from Ned Green with Mura Masa creating a soundscape with beautifully balanced guitars and electronic production to capture the innocence of the story, whilst allowing the listener to think back to similar situations of their own; ‘Deal Wiv It’; Slowthai gifts his energy to what sounds like a song heavily inspired by early material from The Streets.
Listen to ‘Deal Wiv It’ Ft Slowthai here:
The album ends on a great high with ‘Teenage Headache Dreams’ with Ellie Roswell, which captures the transcendent nature of Wolf Alice, but instead of becoming an alternative track, goes into a wonderful explosion of guitar led dance music. This falls into ‘nocturn for strings and conversation’, a reflective outro that ties up ‘R.Y.C’ perfectly, with a bluesy vibe, and string layers, to allow the listener to dwell on their own self, whether they’re remembering their youth, or even coming of age.
When talking about the album, Mura Masa said “If it means relying on something that isn’t necessarily true, or is half-imagined, or might not even have happened at all. If we can find a shared remembrance of a good time, we’re more likely to be able to find that again. A little bit of escapism is healthy.” I feel this album has captured every element of this sentiment, and would implore anyone to take time out one day, to sit and listen to this album, and reflect on it.
Beautiful, transcending, and above all else, well written and put together songs, ‘R.Y.C’ is an amazing piece of art that Mura Masa has drawn up for us, all we can really do now is stand back, and enjoy it.
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