The Daily Spin II
Mura Masa | demon time
Welcome back to the Daily Spin. For the uninitiated, this is the series in which I review an album every day of 2025.
As was the case two years ago, my favorite song from each album can be found at the playlist linked here.
Album: demon time (2022)
Artist: Mura Masa
Link:
It takes a special talent to hit the British music scene at such a young age and flourish, but Alex Crossan, under the name Mura Masa, managed exactly that from the off, with 2014’s Soundtrack to a Death and the following year’s Someday Somewhere dropping as revered EPs for this young unknown from the Channel Islands.
Followed by the bombastic success of 2017’s self-titled project, with features from A$AP Rocky, Charli xcx, Damon Albarn (of Gorillaz fame) and Christine and the Queens among others, it wasn’t too difficult to see the trajectory Crossan could grasp if he so chose. The music was outstanding, blending the best of multicultural influence seen around Britain into a danceable, moving package, one that promised gorgeous RnB production with dancehall drops and slick synths under alluring vocals.
It seems, however, that Crossan is still chasing those peaks. 2020’s RYC was a near-emo record that was glossed over in part due to the whole global health emergency that was grasping the world during that time, but left much to be desired and was a fairly unappreciated departure. 2022’s demon time, then, was Crossan’s big chance, an opportunity to seize back the reins and define the future of future bass - and instead, if you ask me, he’s missed the mark again.
Strong features make the backbone of the record once again - Lil Uzi Vert, PinkPantheress, and slowthai stand out among quality-if-underappreciated names from across the world of music, and the production hasn’t lost too much of its touch from days gone by, but it hasn’t gone forward, either.
On an album that appears, for all intents and purposes, to market itself as future music, the next big thing, Mura Masa takes a step back. Sure, he’s folding in new genres, but it all feels a ploy to hit the charts with the greatest efficiency, and in doing so dulls the production and the fun out of each and every beat that graces this record. There’s nothing here capturing the jubilant energy of ‘Love$ick’, nothing with the emotive punch of ‘1 Night’ or ‘What If I Go?’. Instead, it’s all muted, as if the color has gone a little stale and the pen has run dry.
Rating: 6/10
Best Tracks: e-motions
Worst Tracks: tonto