LEYTONSTONE-BORN MURKAGE DAVE HAS FOUND HIMSELF AT A UNIQUE CROSSROADS BETWEEN MUSICAL STYLES AND PRACTICES.

RAISED ON PIRATE RADIO, HIS UNIQUE BRAND OF BRITISH SOUL COMBINES LONDON STREET SLANG WITH MORISSEY-ESQUE MELANCHOLY.

“I COULD NEVER MAKE MUSIC FOR THE SAKE OF IT,” DAVE SAYS. “I CAN ONLY MAKE MUSIC WHEN I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY. SO MUCH MAD SHIT HAS HAPPENED OVER THE YEARS SO NOW I HAVE SOME REAL STORIES TO TELL.”

IN THE PAST YEAR HE’S COLLABORATED WITH MIKE SKINNER, JAYKAE, SKEPTA AND FRENCH RAPPER NEKFEU (FOR WHICH HE RECEIVED A DOUBLE-PLATINUM PLAQUE), AS WELL AS REACHING THE EARS OF PHARRELL WILLIAMS WHO PLAYED HIS TRACK ‘CAR BOMB’ ON HIS BEATS 1 SHOW OTHERTONE.

TRACKS LIKE ‘PUT YOU ON MY SHOULDERS’ AND ‘EVERY COUNTRY’ RECEIVED STRONG SUPPORT ON SPOTIFY PLAYLISTS, SUCH AS ‘FRESH FINDS’, AND MADE THEIR WAY INTO REGULAR ROTATION ON BBC RADIO 1 AND 1XTRA, WITH BACKING FROM JAMZ SUPERNOVA AND MISTAJAM.

AS WELL AS HIS SOLO MATERIAL, DAVE IS ALSO A MEMBER OF HALFBROTHER, THE DUO HE FORMED WITH PRODUCER AND VOCALIST SCALLY, WHICH HAS RECEIVED CRITICAL ACCLAIM FROM PUBLICATIONS SUCH AS I-D, THE FADER AND PAPER MAG.

OUTSIDE OF HIS WORK AS A RECORDING ARTIST, DAVE - WHO CUT HIS TEETH THROWING PARTIES IN THE MANCHESTER RAVE SCENE - ALSO RUNS TONGA, A CLUB PROJECT IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE STREETS’ FRONTMAN MIKE SKINNER.