R.Y.C: Mura Masa chronicles adolescence on new album

The youth of today’s experience is certainly a turbulent one, balancing the ups and downs of teendom with political frustration, nostalgia and the fear of growing up. But there are a few good things that come from this turmoil, such as 23-year-old Alex Crossman’s new project, R.Y.C, which can be summed up as an ode to adolescence. Standing for ‘Raw Youth Collage’, the title encompasses its sound completely: a scrapbook of different genres and feelings that explores the concept of false nostalgia among today’s youth. And while it has Mura Masa’s signature upbeat backdrop, the album’s darkness and apathy are a stark contrast to his previous self-titled success. If Mura Masa was an unforgettable, drunken summer night, then R.Y.C is the hungover morning after.

With guitar-forward songs such as ‘No Hope Generation’ and ‘vicarious living anthem’, Crossman manages to create a specific brand of pop that blends indie guitar music with 90’s skate-punk and electronic pop and that classic Mura Masa danceable beat. The result is energetic, managing to hold on to the fun of dance music whilst maintaining an element of angst, and the darkness of the lyrics is masked by the album’s consistent pop overlay. Crossman sugar-coats lyrics, ‘gimme a bottle and a gun/ and I’ll show you how it’s done’, with music you want to dance to, and this irony and cynicism gives R.Y.C an edge which is equally dangerous as it is intriguing.

Vocals from artists Clairo, Tirzah, Georgia and Wolf Alice bring prettiness and delicacy to the album. ‘Today’ is a soft, hazy, indie-pop number that deserves standalone credit, and ‘Teenage Headache Dreams’ follows suit – both are easy, charming, slow. But when contrasted with the energy that Slowthai brings with ‘Deal Wiv It’, the gritty 2019 single, ‘R.Y.C’ also acts as an accurate depiction of the ups and downs of teenage life. The total range of scenery, from fairy-light bedroom pop to starting local bar fights, is so delightfully representative of British adolescence that it could be the soundtrack to Skins.

Alex Crossman showcased his musical talent with this album, featuring his own vocals on many of the tracks and contributing on guitar, drums and bass. But his skill as a producer is clear: with R.Y.C, Mura Masa has produced an album that balances dark and light perfectly, both in lyrical subject and in sound. Crossman has proven variety and depth and, as a conceptual album aiming to explore the “dependency on nostalgia and regression in the wake of the often helpless feeling amongst today’s youth culture”, he hits the mark exactly and has succeeded in what he set out to do.