Marcus Ellery

Battersea, South London · FARA Records

Marcus Ellery is one of two equal members of CONSENSUS, the South London duo he leads alongside Iva Renn. Born on 27 April 1997 and raised in Battersea while the neighbourhood was visibly rewritten around the people already living there, he grew up watching a place receive new value and new language while its residents were expected to adapt in place — an experience that gave him a permanent interest in systems described as upgrades. Upgrade for whom? Replacement of what? Who was consulted, and when did the decision become irreversible?

His earliest performance language came through spoken word and grime nights, followed by warehouse techno. Grime taught him economy, placement and the force of consonants; spoken word taught him that silence can keep an audience attentive; warehouse techno gave him a new physical frame for both. He doesn't need a chorus to validate a thought and doesn't need a shout to create scale — a kick drum can get heavier while his voice gets quieter, one of the central pleasures of CONSENSUS. His public principle is simple: if you have to shout, you've lost the room.

Inside CONSENSUS, Marcus carries the verses and the pulse: a light baritone, dry with subtle rasp, clipped consonants, minimal vibrato, slightly behind the beat but never lazy — the delay feels deliberate, like he's already considered the sentence before saying it. He met Iva Renn at a warehouse night, arguing the same question from opposite sides; he objected to somebody describing automation as neutral, she argued that tools don't become less useful because users project motives onto them. Neither converted the other. CONSENSUS works because the disagreement became more precise instead.

Measured, exact and watchful, Marcus is quiet in large groups and excellent one-to-one, comfortable with silence, with a dry and observational humour that's sometimes so understated people miss the joke the first time. His authority comes from attention — he notices when systems have already changed the rules, names what happened in plain language, and refuses panic as a substitute for thought. On stage he stands rather than prowls, hands low and economical, one measured gesture more effective than continuous movement. His recurring subjects are systems, infrastructure, automation and agency: what technology reflects back when the input was ours.