Ricky Gibb Makes KODE Debut With ‘Us Lot’ for Artist Murkage Dave

Ricky Gibb, the newest addition to KODE’s talent roster, has today launched the music video for ‘Us Lot’, the latest single by independent singer-songwriter Murkage Dave, whose debut album entitled ‘Murkage Dave Saved My Life’, was independently released in 2018 and generated over ten million streams online. 

Ricky and Murkage Dave’s partnership began on the set of Ricky’s video for ‘Motions’, by Miles from Kinshaha, an unusual video about longing for connection, which intricately transitions between narrative and performance. Whilst working on this video, the pair forged a connection which evolved into friendship and to collaborating on ‘Us Lot’. 

Ricky Gibb, director, KODE: "Us Lot" is the second time Dave and I have worked together on a music video: although based on the endless conversations and concepts we’ve bounced off of one another over the past two years it feels as though we've created a hundred projects together. For me, the lyrical content is always the first jumping-off point when developing the idea, and Dave’s words are an absolute joy to respond to creatively. He paints such vulnerable, personable, and relatable images; something I seek to do within my own work too.” Ricky added “In my own life, it has felt harder and harder to see friends and maintain connections. This is something that weighs on me heavily. Studying the sentiments expressed in "Us Lot" really reminded me that some bonds will always remain, despite how infrequently we may get to see one another.”

With the perfect blend of performance and storytelling in his music promos, Ricky’s directorial style conveys a sense of truth and authenticity to the characters portrayed, they are recognisable to us as people but are often underrepresented in mainstream media. Ricky’s style seamlessly paired with Murkage Dave’s talent as a wordsmith portraying personable and relatable characters, led to the creation of ‘Us Lot’. The five-minute music promo captures the realism of a house party between a somewhat estranged group of friends; featuring an overbearing character preaching about the credibility of crypto, angry next-door neighbours and a friend stuck to the sofa riding out a bad trip.

New music is often the catalyst for bringing people together; as Murkage Dave, ‘Us Lot’, is heard over the speakers, the disjointed atmosphere of the party is resolved. The film glimpses into a pivotal moment of a group of friends coming back together after time has passed. Although once thick as thieves, the five friends are now somewhat estranged, and only maybe come together now only once or twice a year. As each of the five friends clings on to the final hours of an after-party, we explore the ways in which each of them is extremely unique from each other, although - evidently - bonded for life. 

This felt like quite an unusual one to approach from a logistical recording perspective on the day; the idea that each of them was inextricably entwined, although seemingly severed in the space. With the strength of an incredibly talented cast (Victoria Nwaesei as Dom, Will Stevens as Earl, Alex Flick as Oscar, Rosie Goddard as Maisey, Derrick Methu as Bigz) and crew (Joshua Fry as DOP, Tomasso Colleli on steadicam), we were able to run the entire video through start to finish akin to a theatre show, and really allow the cast to explore their characters and the space equally in front of us” Ricky Gibb, director, KODE. 

Nathan Killham, head of music and executive producer at KODE commented: “We’ve been friends with Ricky for a long time, funnily enough meeting via friends of friends and hanging out at house and work parties. Ricky’s kind soul and positive energy are a welcome addition to our KODE family, and working with him on this first project has been so much fun. His ideas are excellent and are always underpinned with an exploration into quite darkly humorous, absurd situations - which I love.”

KODE is Ricky Gibb’s first signing in the UK; having previously worked independently with artists including Lancey Foux and Skaiwater in addition to Murkage Dave and Miles from Kinshasa, Ricky joins the KODE roster with a focus on music promos. As with other KODE directors he's repped by Claire Stubbs at Mouthpiece.