Desire Marea

Signs to Mute

Kwazulu-natal born, multi-disciplinary artist Desire Marea has today announced their signing to Mute.

Now based in Durban, South Africa, Desire (born Buyani Duma), already well-known as founding member of Johannesburg collective FAKA, released their debut solo album, Desire, in January 2020 on their own imprint Izimakade Records.

Speaking on the signing, Mute founder Daniel Miller comments: “I am enormously excited to be working with Desire and to be part of their remarkable career.”

Desire adds: “This is probably the highlight of my career thus far, to be supported by such an amazing label and such an exceptional team. I am very excited about the future.”

As FAKA, Desire Marea and creative partner Fela Gucci, toured the world extensively making their American debut scoring for the brand Telfar at NYFW, going on to achieve icon status by partnering with Versace to soundtrack their S/S 2019 menswear show before being included in the Vogue World 100 and Dazed 100 lists.

Desire Marea’s solo self-released debut, Desire, is a skillful stylistic departure from their previous gqom inspired work. It’s an exploration of loss, displacement, and the terrifying manifestations of love in the contemporary world. In the words of Ruth Saxelby’s 8.0 Pitchfork review, “their exploration of the divine takes them in a many-splendored multitude of stylistic directions, often within the span of a single track: liturgical drone, galloping club beats, existential noise.”

Listen to Desire here: https://mute.ffm.to/desire

Watch ‘DESIRE MAREA NEZIMAKADE Live at Alliance Française Ethekwini’ here:

Recent praise:
“Marea belongs to a new generation of independent artists approaching voice, musicianship, and performance with all the senses in mind. It’s that embodied vitality that allows Desire to speak so fluently to the mind, body, and soul.” 8.0 – Pitchfork

“This is music that feels genuinely new. It’s not every day you come across a debut album so strikingly original.” – Brooklyn Vegan

“A fascinating, glimmering take on electronic sounds.” – Gal-Dem

“Epic, eerie, regal: a good summation of South African Desire Marea’s debut album, which pushes the boundaries of club music to the limit… So raw, so scattershot, and still so intentional.” – PopMatters

“Desire Marea (born Buyani Duma) has worked tirelessly to pave the way for queer Black art. Their shadowy debut from 2020, a self-titled album on Izimakade Records, blends an array of deep and dark club sounds.” – Resident Advisor

“Through the use of vivid beats that should be forever enshrined within various club mythologies, fractured house rhythms, and arrangements built from unexpected instrumental movements, Marea’s self-titled debut is a whirlwind of hypnotic tones and intonations intent on sacred and secular revelation. ” – Beats Per Minute

https://www.instagram.com/desiremarea/

https://www.facebook.com/desiremarea/

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheBuyani

https://desiremarea.bandcamp.com/