MRCY shares brand new single “Flowers In Mourning, the track is out today via” via Dead Oceans and DSPs. The track follows the duo’s previous single “Lorelei.” MRCY also announces details of their inaugural live shows, with a headline date at London’s Lower Third on June 11th.

“Flowers In Mourning” pays tribute to MRCY’s musical and cultural roots whilst ripping up the rule book from one of the year’s most exciting new projects. Blending a propulsive, Afrobeats rhythm nodding to Kojo’s Ghanaian heritage with the influence of dub and Northern Soul, which soundtracked Barney’s own upbringing, the energetic release of “Flowers In Mourning” puts a positive spin on an affecting meditation on love and loss.

Kojo comments: “The opening voice is my Mum singing a song that my Grandmother wrote for my family as a kind of fun nursery rhyme to sing to the kids. All my family know it. My Grandmother is no longer with us and when I think about her I feel a mix of joy and sadness. “Flowers In Mourning” is also about the loss of things that kept you at peace, and it reflects on the state of our surroundings that contribute to feeling like shxt mentally.”

MRCY are made up of producer Barney Lister and vocalist Kojo Degraft-Johnson. With work that is as classic in feel as it is contemporary in concern, their vision of Soul through the looking-glass draws inspiration from the timeless musical warmth of Marvin Gaye to the genre-melding, modern sensibility of Khruangbin and Sault.

Having first connected over Instagram during the pandemic, MRCY met up in Brixton between lockdowns, allowing the band’s sound and bond to deepen. The first single ‘Lorelei’ previewed MRCY’s soon-to-be-signature mix, setting stylish vocals, designed to challenge and transport from the everyday (“it’s like hearing a distant memory,” Barney says, “but one that speaks to where you are now”).