Dave has described his Hyundai Mercury Prize-shortlisted album ‘Psychodrama’ as "a form of therapy".
The London rapper is in contention for the prestigious music prize this year for his debut album and revealed the songs are a way of "expressing how you feel" in "the most creative way".
In a video interview ahead of the ceremony on September 19, Dave said: "’Psychodrama’ is a form of therapy and it is just expressing how you feel in whatever way is the most creative to you.
"Some people act it out, some people sing it out, people find their own different ways.
"And I think for me, it was just about making a track which in every walk of life just sheds some light on me, the person that I am, the scope of the world around me."
The ‘Funky Friday’ hitmaker also explained that the bold artwork of Dave’s head on fire with blue flames represents the "chaos, the rage and the fire inside of [him] mixed with sadness and a mellow nature" which he felt whilst creating the acclaimed LP.
He explained: "A friend of mine, a very talented artist Tyler Remikie drew it up, but I guess the thought process behind it was emotions and colours.
"That is something I have been pretty big on in music when I’ve been making it.
"My favourite colour is blue as you can see [points to his blue t-shirt] and imagine.
"But for me it was always what does the colour blue represent?
"What colour does the album sound like?
"Does it feel angry? Is it red? Is it mellow?
"Blue is a colour that represented it.
He added: "The flaming head image was a visual representation as to what was going on in my head a lot of the time when I was making the album.
"That sort of chaos, the rage and the fire inside of me mixed with sadness and a mellow nature came together and made that blue flame.
"Which is, I guess, what goes hand-in-hand when people think of the album. You think of that blue flaming head."
Dave is up against rockers IDLES and their album ‘Joy as an Act of Resistance’ and slowthai for his debut studio album ‘Nothing Great About Britain’.
As well as, The 1975, who have been shortlisted for the prestigious Album of the Year prize for their third studio LP ‘A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships’, and Foals, Little Simz, Fontaines D.C., NAO and Black Midi for their respective albums; ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 1’, ‘Grey Area’, ‘Dogrel’, ‘Saturn’ and ‘Schlagenheim’.
Dave describes Psychodrama as a ‘form of therapy’
