Mura Masa - R.Y.C.

Mura Masa
R.Y.C.
2020
Spotify

When I saw a new Mura Masa record was incoming I of course was excited. However one of the singles "Teenage Headache Dream" had me shook. It was... it was not Mura Masa. Gone were the wiggly electronics, gone were the down beats and in their place something...different. Suddenly we were hearing Mura himself autotuned and half singing, half speaking. This is not what I was expecting, but magically just what I needed. This moody dare I even say "emo" record feels like an adult musical reaction to the swarming insecurity of our modern age. Instead of trying to blend those emotions into the things He was doing before, Mura Masa has blazed a new trail. "No Hope Generation" sounds like a song by late Blink-182 or Angels and Airwaves. "I Don't Think I Can Do This Again" has this pulsing beat and a dance heart at the center of it, but all around are these sweet youthful vibes. It's almost like Mura Masa found a way to make strumming a heartfelt song on an acoustic good again. Sure He has to blast it through electronics, but that's what makes it more special. "Deal Wiv It" is a thumb straight to the nose of anything Mura Masa has done before as a driving Bass guitar and a snarled vocal from slowthai evoke those early punk days. It's almost like Mura Masa is giving Me a little tour of my musical history, but making it all new again, impressive shit.

Just when you think it's just gonna be a new take on an emo album songs like "In My Mind" come in and instead are these blistering electronical soundscapes. This is the music you close your eyes and let the world melt away too. I kept waiting for the floor to fall out or for me to start missing "the old" Mura Masa, but that moment never comes. The album just sails by light as a feather making you want to return again and again and maybe again again. A lovely record and one that shows incredible musical depth, R.Y.C. is a treasure.

8.9 out of 10