Crook Decker has introduced his debut solo project with new single ‘Beacon’

British indie singer-songwriter Jude Lilley, known for his work with Moreish Idols, has launched a solo project under the name Crook Decker.

The project’s first single, ‘Beacon’, will be followed by the release of the album ‘Graffiti Lagoon’ on 12th November through Seb Wildblood’s label all my thoughts.

Crook Decker is a collaboration between Lilley and Charlie Ockmore, also known as Sonny, from the South London collective 404 Guild. The project emerged as a creative outlet during the lockdown in 2020.

“It was during an insanely hot, pandemic summer in 2020 that my astro-turfed terrace became an oasis,” Lilley explains. “The world was getting sick, Peckham was a desert, and London was a swamp, but somehow, up there, I was protected from it all. I began to write through the eyes of Crook Decker, a lonesome swamp dweller who swears by the superficial mantra ‘ignorance is bliss’ as he trots through his environment, refusing to take in the real world around him.”

‘Beacon’ serves as a tribute to those who uphold traditions and keep society running while others pursue artistic ambitions. The song draws inspiration from the Ripon horn-blower tradition in Yorkshire, where volunteers blow a cow horn every night at 9pm to ward off a curse.

“One of the newer songs on the album, Beacon felt like the final piece of the puzzle—an act of gratitude and admiration towards those who keep things moving while we’re all galavanting, pretending to be artists,” Lilley notes. “The only time this tradition was ever broken was during the COVID-19 pandemic, a tradition that has lasted for over 1000 years.”