![News Added Sep 07, 2015 Despite being one of its primary purposes, it’s become worryingly uncommon for artists to use music as a form of storytelling in today’s industry. Unsurprisingly, mainstream pop artists are the worst culprits – presumably because they don’t write their own material – and even the majority of popular rappers barely […]](https://hasitleaked.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/imgres.jpg "Mura Masa : Soundtrack To A Death")
Despite being one of its primary purposes, it’s become worryingly uncommon for artists to use music as a form of storytelling in today’s industry. Unsurprisingly, mainstream pop artists are the worst culprits – presumably because they don’t write their own material – and even the majority of popular rappers barely make an effort. I mean, I listen to Gucci, but if you can find any sort of meaningful story in “Gucci 2 Times”, then you deserve a medal. Electronic musicians aren’t massively different, either. You could argue that melodic electro tunes provide more of a narrative than tearout dubstep or club-ready trap music, but it’s all relatively flat in that regard.
Before starting to sound overly pessimistic, I should point out that it’s not all doom and gloom when it comes to truly purposeful craft. For spitters you need look no further than the likes of Denzel Curry and Mick Jenkins, and there are plenty of incredible vocalists with a tale to tell if you’re looking in the right places. It’s also fair to say that music doesn’t need to tell a story – after all, it’s just creative expression. Still, these talents are sparse. Even in today’s increasingly popular future beats scene, they don’t exactly exist in vast swathes. But they do exist. And when you come across a storyteller, whether you think narration an important factor in music or not, they are noticeably different from their counterparts.
One such artist that has certainly established himself as a well-known chronicler is 18 year old Alex Crossan – known to the world over as Mura Masa. Over the last 12 months or so, Alex has gone from making the odd twitter feed appearance here and there to easily topping 100k plays on a track in but a single month. It would be fair to label him as sort of a big geeza now, joining the ranks of some of the most exciting new artists as part of the Soulection family.
Though each of his tracks pans out in a readable fashion, his intriguing series of “Day _” tracks is what makes him stick out as a serious raconteur, from the smooth jazz vibes of “Day 1” to the vibrant, empowering “Day 23 – Have Faith In Me”.
The latest tale to come from the mind of Mura Masa is the “Soundtrack To A Death” LP. It consists of 14 tracks, and takes the listener on a wonderful journey as they absorb the audio. In contrast to its title, the general feel of the album is one of warmth and safety.
