Six artists Annie Mac says to watch in 2016

Annie: "A terrifyingly talented young man from Guernsey. He’s nineteen years old and already a brilliant songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and music producer. He has that ability to make amazing pop songs with a real sonic edge – pop that feels familiar and foreign all at the same time."

Mura Masa, AKA 19-year-old Alex Crossan, is best known for his remixes – notably his sleek, submerged version of Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’, but also RL Grime’s ‘Kingpin’, Aquilo’s ‘Losing You’ and The Avener’s ‘Fadeout Lines’. He used to create abstract hip hop in the style of one of his musical heroes, Flying Lotus (as can be heard on his 2014 debut album, ‘Soundtrack To A Death’, on German label Jakarta) but has since developed his own unique style, bridging the worlds of classy home listening and late-night dancefloor. For further evidence, check the pulsing, dreamy ‘Firefly’, featuring another of Annie’s Future Talent picks for 2016, NAO. It all seems a long way from death metal (it was a metal track that gave him the Mura Masa moniker), yet Crossan doesn’t think so.

“I used to be in couple of really heavy metal bands – deathcore,” he says, drily. “You know, I have this argument all the time about the difference between that and electronic music, but I think metal shares a lot with hip hop culture and dance music. There’s an impassioned energy coming through. With metal it tends to be anger, whereas dance music is euphoria. It’s all the same to me. I’ve never really drawn those lines. I’ve always been quite diverse. It wasn’t that big a leap – though when you listen to the metal stuff I did, you might think so.”

Raised on his American mother’s music, Joni Mitchell and the like, Alex was cut off from a broader range of musical styles by his isolation on the Channel Islands.

“Guernsey is a beautiful place,” he says, “but so far removed. You’d never get a culture like grime there. It lacks its own cultural identity, which is why I eventually latched onto lots of different things rather than one sound or one culture.”

When he was 15 Crossan heard Hudson Mohawke via YouTube and was intrigued. For the next five years the internet became his “back yard” as he “realised there was good music in the world”. From Mount Kimbie to Floating Points, Cashmere Cat to Warp Records he explored and explored – but one name became especially important: “With James Blake it was clear you could be an electronic artist and still be an amazing musician and songwriter.”

When his SoundCloud account reached 8,000 followers, he signed a management deal and is now working hard on his debut album. He’s currently based in Brighton where he went to university, though he’s now dropped out to focus on music. He recently completed a UK tour, featuring Bonzai on vocals who’s signed to his label Anchor Point, and there’s also a remix of Ibeyi forthcoming. In terms of where he’s headed in the longer term, Mura Masa admires Jamie xx, who he reckons “has crossed over but hasn’t conceded on his sound.” With the likes of Diplo and Skrillex paying attention to Mura Masa’s music, it seems likely he’ll have the opportunity to take a similar path…