Former Western student Dylan Murray and supporting band — Colin Kingsmore, Scott Kemp, Sean Nimmons and Greg Keyes — will be gracing the London Music Club with a unique blend of folk-rock-reggae music this Saturday.
Music is now Murray’s primary focus, a calling he discovered while still a student.
“I left [Western] at the end of my second year, realizing that my destiny was not only to be a student of sociology but rather a social being in the universe while creating musical harmony,” he says.
After this realization, Murray made music his priority and released his EP White Wing Roots in 2007. His acoustic melodies — with “a drop of reggae” as he puts it — make for some easy-on-the-ears tunes, and with songs like “Watching the Waves” and “I Haven’t Decided Yet” Murray often draws comparison to Jack Johnson. Though he always had an interest in reggae, his laid-back sound was shaped by a life-changing trip down to the Caribbean.
“I went down to Jamaica when I was 18 and started working in the inner city ghettos of Kingston,” Murray explains. “I’ve been going for the past 11 years — teaching, learning, writing and playing music — [and] the experiences I have had there have been life-changing to say the least.”
His relationship with Jamaican culture, however, is not the sole influence when it comes to his music. He draws largely on his natural surroundings.
“My musical influences are wind, water, earth, fire, animals, trees and nature in general,” he says. “Without them I would be nothing.”
Though born and currently based in Toronto, Murray still feels at home in London and is excited to play at his former stomping grounds. When asked what the audience can expect from one of his live shows Murray answered, “expect my soul to be present. That’s all I can promise.”
Dylan Murray plays London Music Hall Saturday, Sept. 19. Doors open at 8:30 p.m. and the show starts at 10 p.m. Tickets are $12 at the door and $13.50 online at www.londonmusicclub.150m.com. The London Music Club is located at 470 Colborne Street.