Mura Masa's debut album hailed 'ground-breaking'

The work of 21-year-old Alex Crossan, whose stage name is based on a 16th-century Japanese swordsmith, has won plaudits from the likes of the NME, New York Times, Guardian, a range of online sites and fans.

Out on Polydor Records, the self-titled album features guest vocals from A$AP Rocky, Desiigner, Charli XCX, Christine and the Queens and Damon Albarn.

In giving the album four out of five, Rachel Aroesti in The Guardian described it as 'brimming with nowness'.

The Belfast Telegraph picked it as one of its albums of the week.

'Alex Crossan's debut will be ground-breaking to those new to his music and features something for everyone – as well as every stage of the party,' it said in an eight out of 10 review.

'While "trop house" provides a grindingly ubiquitous framework, the stream of endearing quirks – from Bonzai's jarringly glottal vocal on Nuggets and the Orange Juice-esque synth break in Messy Love to Helpline's punk drum intro and the Bon Iver-aping interlude Give Me the Ground – means Mura Masa manages to miraculously transcend its generic core,' she said.

In the New York Times, Jon Pareles described him as 'a denizen of an interconnected planet, with global sources and an ambition to be heard'.

'Commercial impact doesn't seem to be Mura Masa's only goal.

'He's also trying to conjure tricky emotions and build eccentric structures in and around his pop verses and choruses. His songs have needy, uncertain narrators, and his productions are reticent, almost shy; they avoid overblown bass and drum sounds and back away from obvious build-ups, often placing silences where a big, obvious beat could go.'

Mura Masa will be signing copies of his debut album Mura Masa at HMV Guernsey on Tuesday at noon.

Access to the queue will be restricted – 500 wristbands will be available when buying the album from the local store, limited to one per person.