Moses Boyd is a multi-award winning drummer, producer, composer and BBC 1Xtra resident, fiercely independent and powered by a vast array of influences and experiences.

Moses Boyd’s genre- and boundary-breaking debut album Dark Matter was released by his own label Exodus Records in February 2020. A prolific collection of “dancefloor-friendly kaleidoscopic Jazz” (The Guardian), Dark Matter was produced by Moses with collaborators including Obongjayar and Klein, alongside some familiar faces from the London jazz scene, like mentor Gary Crosby OBE. The landmark record brings in the raw energy of grime and afrobeats and the rolling club rhythms of the London underground, combined with his distinct, infectious collaborative jazz training. The use of monochrome throughout the campaign in everything from press shots, artwork, and video is relates back to the three contextual ideas in a visual way; a play on the meanings of darkness and light, right and wrong with lots of ‘grey area’.

The use of consistent colouring and imagery helped create a compelling aesthetic for the campaign leading it to be particularly bold and memorable.

The Orchard teams tied in organic digital marketing and paid advertising to amplify the record and Mercury Prize nomination. The impact of prudent digital marketing became more clear than ever during lockdown, particularly as we looked to build upon the Mercury shortlist news. Moses saw the biggest percentage increase (37.8%) in album sales of any shortlisted artist.

The campaign involved creating a landing page for the Dark Matter website, a Dark Matter “Stranger Than Fiction’ Instagram filter, out of home billboard advertising, special vinyl editions, listening parties (Tim’s Twitter Listening Party), album playbacks, and playlist takeovers. A very successful social advertising campaign ran across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Google Search.

During Covid-19, the UK’s Love Record Stores campaign made special releases available to fans online in June, including a new Black & White Flag Edition of Dark Matter The album had big looks on DSPs as well, on playlists such as Tidal’s Out There, British Jazz Is Hot Hot Hot!, and Album Staff picks. Spotify placements included New Music Friday UK, State of Jazz, Butter, Mercury Music Prize: Best Of, Altar, Jazz UK, X-Over Japan; along with Apple New Music Daily, New Latitudes; YouTube Jazz Hotlist; and Deezer New Jazz Generation.