Mrley Shares new single ‘So Much To Say’

Born and raised in Lewisham, Mrley has a musical landscape influenced by a small collection of CDs his parents had at home. His dad had a pile of rock and rap, and his mum’s cache of music, which included two life changing records – Nirvana’s Nevermind and a Guns ‘N Roses greatest hits compilation, which got Mrley hooked at 9 years old.

Mrly started to make music as a young teen, and his dad picked up a refurbished MacBook on eBay when he was 15, where GarageBand opened doors to a new world of writing and recording. At school, the grunge and rock that had captured his attention at home was derided: this was mid-noughties south London, a school with predominantly black pupils. UK rap and grime dominated, while rock was labelled music for white kids.

So, Mrley started to dabble in rap, recording with his laptop microphone and uploading tracks to SoundCloud, where they found an audience. He started to build a name for himself on London’s rap circuit, known for his frenetic, uncontainable sound and performance style. Performing felt good, but the music didn’t quite fit and he felt unsatisfied.

A month before the UK’s first lockdown, Mrley picked up a guitar at the recording studio he was visiting. Although he’d taught himself to play the instrument as a teen – his dad had shown him the first three chords – he’d never taken it seriously. At that moment, though, he knew he wanted to make music that was different to what he’d been doing.

Under lockdown, the south-east Londoner has had time to lean into a new world of sound, spending days making music on guitar and keys, exploring the black roots of rock and skating the city his EP’s named for.

Mrley has evolved from being a Grime MC to creating music that draws influence from a wealth of rock subgenres, tied together by the energy of punk. In 2021, the rising artist will release his debut EP, titled Love You London. The five-track record has been written, produced and performed by Mrley over the last 18 months.