NATTY
 
‘We’re the PlayStation generation/Xboxed up on your CCTV/You can file us under hoodie or Asbo as you take away our identity’, sings Natty on his song ‘Coloured Souls’. The 24-year-old from North London has long since swapped his hoodie for dreadlocks and a thoughtful take on what it is to be young in the inner city today. Using sounds from around the world he sums up modern Britain with pinpoint accuracy.
 
First single proper ‘Cold Town’ sets out his stall, a tense but catchy reggae groove that paints a picture of a ‘too hot’ capital in which immigrants move in around the corner and every Asian is a suspected terrorist. ‘It’s saying, why can’t we just let this place be the melting pot that it is,’ he explains.
 
With a mother from Lesotho, the tiny kingdom that sits completely within the borders of South Africa, and an English father of Italian descent, Natty’s intelligent words on racial issues have already led to involvement with Love Music Hate Racism. The campaigning organisation featured his song ‘If I’ alongside Bloc Party, Babyshambles and The Enemy on a compilation given away with the NME in October 2007. The folky ballad cheekily addresses the preconceptions of the typical indie fan: ‘So I’ll sing you this song out my pigeonhole/But you’ll still probably call me reggae soul/And I’ll be wondering is it my dreadlocks and skin tone/So I sing, how do I break the mould?’
 
Break the mould he does, moving away from reggae to take in the clean West African guitar sound of ‘Coloured Souls’, gentle soulful pop on charming love song ‘Stoned On You’ and, on sparse lament ‘Say Bye Bye’, a devastating account of a child going through his parents’ divorce. Playing guitar backed by a four-piece band of friends, not session musicians, he sings in a rough-edged voice that has genuine soul.
 
Obvious Bob Marley comparisons seem less relevant when you learn that Natty featured samples of Simon And Garfunkel, Neil Young and Nas on the mixtape that became his early calling card, covered Afrorock hotshots Vampire Weekend during this February’s iTunes Live concerts, and has booked indie acts such as Mr Hudson & The Library and Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. at his successful Kentish Town club night Vibes And Pressure. Tours supporting Hard-Fi, Kate Nash and Adele have endeared him further to fans with broader tastes to match his own. ‘I grew up listening to a lot of reggae, but also African music, Pink Floyd, Dylan, Neil Young and a whole heap of Motown.’
 
The nickname admittedly has a Marley connection. As a 13-year-old he left a copy of Marley’s 1974 album Natty Dread on a sunny windowsill at home, causing the vinyl to warp and sustaining much abuse from his mother in front of his delighted friends. His pals kept his embarrassment simmering by calling him Natty, and when he ‘locksed up’ at 16 the moniker stuck still stronger. ‘Locks aren’t just Rastafarian, they’re African. They came about for me after a period of being bad, when it was time to start saying no to a few things. It’s a spiritual thing, and it’s about reminding myself where I come from.’
 
If he has a reggae idol, it’s mad genius Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry.‘ I supported him once at the Jazz Café and thought, where do I go from here? He travelled the same road I did, going from producer to performer.’
 
For Natty is no newcomer, having worked in the music industry since finishing school and blagging his way into a job at premier league recording studio Sphere in Battersea. Ditching the guitar he learned to play at 10, for teenage years spent creating hip hop beats for rapping mates, his bedroom mastery of music production software Cubase gave him the confidence to earn a tryout, by convincing his potential employers he was a fully fledged studio engineer. ‘Everyone passed through that place over four years, from Duran Duran to Mos Def,’ he says. ‘I ended up spending two months recording Razorlight’s first album in Cornwall. That guy’s got a reputation but he’s one of the smartest dudes I know.’
 
Natty only picked up his guitar again as he turned 18, beginning to write his own songs ‘as a hobby’. Craig Dodds, a producer Natty worked with at Sphere heard his early demos and encouraged him to take things further.  The two ended up working together and co-producing Natty’s debut album with Jonny Dollar (Massive Attack).
 
By day he was engineering for some of the biggest names in the indie music scene and by night this gave him the inspiration to nurture his own developing talent.  The devout following from his open mic sessions captivated the well deserved attention from many labels, including Atlantic Records who had the same vision as Natty and supported his creativity.  ‘I wanted to start a vibe, a movement, and bring on a few musicians who should be better known. I wasn’t interested in all these record companies saying, ’We’re gonna turn you into a star’. That’s for the people to decide.’
 
A smart, thoughtful singer with integrity and a diverse sound ready for summer and beyond - with or without assistance, it shouldn’t take too long for the people to decide that Natty is a true star indeed.