When bounding into the ring of modernist R&B and rap – an arena already swarming with loud, inventive figures such as Kanye West, A$AP Rocky and Kendrick Lamar – impact is everything. Atlanta, Georgia’s Raury clearly got the memo. Touring his debut mixtape, Indigo Child, and flush with a Sound of 2015 nomination, he eschews the record’s afro-gospel electronic elements to bring a rocked-up arena attitude to Shoreditch’s modest art cavern. As his impressive band blast out Eye of the Tiger power chords, glam-metal backbeats and the strident keytar of War (Part 1), Raury slides on stage dressed in a white hat and billowing open shirt. He throws some impressive Prince moves and begins hyping the crowd relentlessly. “I’m here to take you to my world,” he barks, and one song in we’re putting down a deposit there without waiting for a survey.
Unfortunately, Raury walks the walk but doesn’t quite bellow the bellow. His rapping is creative and strong, particularly at the Formula One velocities of SBTRKT’s Higher, but, when he sings, his wispy Jacko melodies struggle to compete with his band’s bodybuilding heft and his own typhoon personality. Little Simz hands him his backside during her fiery grime guest spot, a masterclass in delivery, and it’s only when tackling more emotive issues that Raury starts sounding like he doesn’t have vocal chords made of muesli. Over the intense synths and battleground beats of Devil’s Whisper, he spits rhymes of passion about the war on drugs and, after he leads a minute’s silence for the world’s murder victims, Fly becomes an affecting arena ballad dissecting the senselessness of gun crime.
Come the witchy gospel blues of God’s Whisper – the White Stripes being carried to sacrifice – he’s found his voice, but playing it again for an encore is a rookie move. “I think I can fly!” he cries, swan-diving on to the crowd, but this is one superstar-in-training who needs work on his wings.
