Rising from the most fertile music scene in the UK, Glasgow’s Dam Mantle has instantly turned heads in a city of future legends.
More comfortably called Tom Marshallsay to his nearest and dearest, he’s gaining relentlessly positive reviews thanks to his ‘Grey EP’ that’s brimming with originality, ideas, and a palpable sense of fun that cannot fail but radiate outwards to the listener.
Being mentioned in the same breath as other Glasgow luminaries Rustie and Hudson Mohawke, Dam Mantle’s sound twists the once rigid rhythmic lines of hip-hop into a cocktail that confuses as much as it entertains.
The instrumentation on tracks such as ‘A Statue That Is Perpetually Unveiled’ is breathtaking, from swirling symphonic strings to what sounds like the soundtrack to a US 1960s sitcom a la Bewitched, to bass stabs that further put you off balance. Of this broad sonic palette, Mantle says he “wants the listener to wonder what is sampled and what’s live, blurring cultures,” a goal he is already achieving, drawing on influences as far stretched as Battles, Don Caballero and Caribou.
Despite his music becoming “almost explicitly electronic” at the moment, Mantle’s multi-instrumental talents will surely lead us even further into “the distorted source” of his fusion of cultures and sounds, and perhaps even onto his dream of playing “with a full live orchestra.”
Catch him on tour with the excellent Gold Panda, or at a festival near you later in the year, and swipe ‘Grey’ from his label, Halleluiah Hits. If it is ambition, creativity and fun you look for in your music this summer, Dam Mantle may just be your sunshine.
Words by Ryan J. Smith
Where: Glasgow
What: Liquid-culture-clash
Unique Fact: It took just one gig for Dam Mantle’s phone to start ringing.
Get 3 songs: ‘A Statue That Is Perpetually Unveiled’, ‘Yogurt’, ‘Rebong’
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Get Dam Mantle’s ‘Rebong (Halleluwah Hits)’ as part of Clash Magazine’s free Cross Section download album HERE.
