ObscurLEY is an adventurous belts-and-suspenders Pacific-Northwest-based musical duo composed of Clint Warren and Sultry Samurai whose eclectic, richly detailed Indie Rock is informed by Reggae, Afro-Caribbean Calypso, Funk, Hip-hop, and many other genres. Their full-length debut, Lost Circus, appeared on Innerstate Records in 2021.

“We play the music around you. We’ve all been through different frames of mind at any given time. First you’re in that awkward date mode, then you’re in that fist pumping mode, then you’re in that smoke some ganja and relax mode, and then you’re in that sleepy mode. After that, you’re right back into that party mode and ready to do it all again. Our purpose in writing songs is to take you through that journey of moods.”

We coined the term “Obscurley” out of our use of poor English in 2018 when we came up with the idea for the group. It’s spelled “L-E-Y” like Bob Marley, but not Obscurely – that’s just wrong. We think of it like this. Have you ever flipped through the radio stations or play-lists on Spotify simply looking for some good songs that don’t all sound the same? Why does every new band’s songs all sound the same? We came up with the idea for Obscurley to be a combination of good, fun music. It’s as simple as that. Since we started writing music our friends had always described our music as avant garde and obscurley put together. We looked up both words. Turned out Avant-garde was a real word but Obscurley wasn’t.

Now it is…

The group combines African-born singer and guitarist, Clint Warren’s South African Kaiso-inspired highly rhythmic beats with Michigan rapper Sultry Samurai’s harmonic vocals. Prior to Obscurley, the two singers Warren and Samurai were part of a South-Florida-based Indie Dance duo called Stellar Icaria, influenced by a wide range of genres including Mento, a style of Jamaican folk music that influenced ska, reggae, and rocksteady today.

The MusiCares Foundation awarded the group with a recording sponsorship in 2020 the group was a semi-finalist for the 2021 Opening Act Contest. Since the Group’s first studio release with Innerstate, they have collaborated with artists including Backman, Dominic DeLaney, and Grammy-nominees Andii Styron and Stormakastorm. In May, 2022 their song entitled “Pragmatic” was included as part of a compilation by WOA Records on the 11th volume of “GOA Chillout Zone,” which landed at #3 on iTunes UK and #2 on Amazon UK.

Wardrobe for Obscurley is provided by Salt Kured and Koloa Surf.