Exclusive Premiere: Indian-Origin U.K. Artist Munkey Junkey’s Topsy Turvy ‘Kill My Ego’

Drawing from an out-of-body experience during his cousin’s funeral in Haridwar, England-based producer Munkey Junkey aka Kurran Karbal has released an intense new song “Kill My Ego,” supplied with a trippy stop-motion music video.

Based in northwest U.K. town of Birkenhead, Karbal was born in New York, but also lived in Switzerland, Abu Dhabi and spent time visiting family in New Delhi and Haridwar. His cousin Yogin is described as one of the reasons the artist got into music, perhaps leading to Karbal fronting alt/indie band Kurran and the Wolfnotes a decade ago. “In a way I don’t think my Indian-ness has ever left me. When I was younger I always knew wherever I was living wasn’t where I was ‘from’,” Karbal says.

As Munkey Junkey, Karbal has been releasing music since 2019, including his debut EP Going Pro At Letting Go, which pushed forward an experimental sound. With “Kill My Ego,” we hear more skittering, chaotic rhythms and sly wordplay from the artist. While there’s grief and epiphanies contained within the new song, it’s not the first time Munkey Junkey dove into the topic of his cousin’s suicide. “Haridwar,” off the debut EP also deals with it, but addresses it as “raw memories” of the artist, while “Kill My Ego” unlocks Karbal’s inner thoughts, also reflected into the music video animated by Cut42 and directed by Corben Lamb (also keyboardist in Munkey Junkey’s live iteration). It’s a short but powerfully emotive track, while the video shows a primate like character roaming what Karbal describes as a “trippy pre-human Haridwar.”

The track is part of Munkey Junkey’s upcoming debut full-length album, Bitter Chitta, featuring artists such as Simon Tong (from U.K. bands The Verve and virtual act Gorillaz), pop artist Zuzu and Karbal’s live bandmates Nathan Peers, Ben Truman and Corben Lamb across 16 tracks. Tong and Karbal met via Zuzu eight years ago and have already worked on plenty of music together, with the guitarist encouraging Karbal to be as honest as possible about his lived experiences.

The next single from Munkey Junkey includes “Oo Aa Na” on May 14th, with the album releasing on June 18th. Karbal adds, “After that I’m going to try and change the way that we interact with music. All in the pursuit of a better experience for listeners and a fairer set up for artists. I’m working on that with my buddies, the Lemon8 crew, from Delhi.

Watch the video for “Kill My Ego” below. Stream on more platforms here.