MRCY have announced that their debut project, VOLUME 1, which is currently only available digitally, is coming on vinyl, via Dead Oceans on Friday 15th of November. Also being launched is an incredible live session video. Check out ‘Flowers In Mourning’ – Live From The Mildmay Club, below.
MRCY are producer Barney Lister and vocalist Kojo Degraft-Johnson. Hailing from different ends of England and disparate cultures, theirs is a space of self-expression that combines the timeless musical warmth of Marvin Gaye with the genre-melding, modern sensibility of Anderson. Paak, Khruangbin and Sault. And having strived separately behind the scenes, the band is as much about putting yourself first as it is the spirit of compassion that has never felt more needed.“It’s like hearing a distant memory,” Barney says, “but one that speaks to where you are now.”
Widescreen but intimate, ‘Flowers In Mourning’ pays tribute to MRCY’s musical and cultural roots whilst ripping up the rule-book from one of the year’s most exciting new projects. Blending a propulsive, Afrobeats rhythm nodding to Kojo’s Ghanaian heritage with the influence of dub and Northern Soul, which soundtracked Barney’s own upbringing, the energetic release of ‘Flowers In Mourning’ puts a positive spin on an affecting meditation on love and loss.
MRCY – Live From The Mildmay Club
VOLUME 1 immediately marks MRCY out as one of the year’s most exciting new acts. Its 8 tracks showcase a timeless musical maturity, but also Barney and Kojo’s ability to speak directly to the challenges – and the joys – of everyday life. Whether working through grief (‘Flowers In Mourning’), ruminating on lost love (‘Lorelei’) or savouring the simple pleasures (‘R.L.M’), the Volume drops alongside newer single ‘California’: a wistful, psychedelic meditation on the appearance and the reality of city life. The band comment: “California’ is actually about London, but more specifically the night-and-day perception of somewhere beyond the surface. For the most part they might seem like decent places to live, but you’ll see struggle, hardship, poverty and mental warfare right alongside lives that are flourishing. ‘California’ is about feeling powerless to help even in a place that claims to be one of opportunity.”
Praise for MRCY:
“Perhaps the most exciting new act to appear from the UK this year so far” – Wonderland
“Psychedelic soul at its most ensnaring” – Sunday Times
“Ambitious, emotionally charged…helps us fathom life’s confusion” – NME
“A rare musical chemistry…smooth and softly experimental” – Rolling Stone
“Triumphant and dynamic…MRCY are quickly landing themselves on every music enthusiast’s radar”” – Clash
“Baton-carriers of genre-bending contemporary soul” – DIY
MRCY VOLUME ONE
Stream VOLUME ONE: https://MRCY.lnk.to/VOLUME-1
