Casper Grey releases debut album ‘Jungian Junglist’
Credit: Somitude
JUNGIAN JUNGLISTWITH FOCUS SINGLE ‘GOOD GOD’
OUT NOW ON KINGDOME RECORDINGS
“… sounds like the rope burning down a cherry bomb” – Notion
“Grey, who seamlessly merges roles as a writer, rapper, actor, and designer, is on a mission to redefine storytelling through music.” – WhyNow
“CASISDEAD meets Brutalism-era Idles” – WonderlandSTREAM ALBUM
Casper Grey. He’s your mum’s favourite writer, your brother’s favourite rapper, your nan’s favourite actor and your best friend’s favourite designer – an Eastend born-and-bred jack of all trades. Today, he releases his long-awaited debut album, Jungian Junglist onKingdome Recordings.
His music reckons with the perennial themes of guilt, repentance, virtue and sin which have commanded the stage for centuries. These instincts are owed to Grey’s reputation as a rising force in British cinema, being one of the few actors chosen for a professional scholarship at Top Boy star and So Solid Crew alumnus Ashley Walters’ esteemed drama school, Kingdom School of Arts.
The release Jungian Junglist arrives after the swell of critical acclaim following forerunning single ‘TRU’SAY’, an anti-hero’s monologue that plays out like a threat; ‘BRAT’, a cutting electro-punk collision with hip-hop sensibilities; and ‘NU GENNA HUE’, a particularly vicious and dislocating strain of UK rap. Together, with ‘REAL FREE BORN’ featuring masked East London rapper and labelmate Izambard, they stoke a feeling of foreboding which looms large across the album.
Speaking on his vision behind his debut album, Grey shares: “‘Jungian Junglist’ represents many of the predominant archetypes that manifest within a person who has been shaped by their exposure to the art, culture and attitude of the UK. It’s a sonic and visual dissection channelling these subtle divisions in psyche living dormant (…perhaps dominant) within us all.”
The arrival of the record zeroes in on ‘GOOD GOD’, a warped and disorientating floor-filler drawing on dancehall signatures. Always elusive, Grey comments: “God is a synonym for conscience.”
As well as writing and producing his musical output, he self-directs and produces all visuals and creative direction for the project, channelling inspiration from the unflinching character portrayals within the work of Grey’s heroes such as Jonathan Glazer & Ken Loach weaving in the surrealist, internet-age paranoia of constant surveillance.
Alongside his solo projects and acting, Casper Grey is half the force behind production duo Eastend Gravy whose genre-annihilating sound featured on Rihanna’s latest Fenty Hair campaign. He is also the founder and resident MC come selector at the new and equally revolutionary bi-monthly club night Post Genre Party where transgressive sounds cut through the internet blur dragging its audience into a brave new sonic world.
Beyond music, Casper is also co-designer in the graphic outfit Somitude; the artistic duo behind the album artwork for the critically-acclaimed debut album by multidisciplinary icon Isamaya Ffrench.
