Marcus Brown’s energy crackles, their brain motoring at full tilt, like there’s always too much to talk about and never enough time to get to it all. As we stroll the stalls at their favorite flea market in Dumbo, Brooklyn, bits of their personal history and hyper-curious disposition come into focus. The 28-year-old has worked at a thrift store, a bookstore, and a Whole Foods, and wrote his recent debut album as Nourished by Time, Erotic Probiotic 2, in his parents’ basement in Baltimore. (He also has a side hustle as a tennis instructor.) A vendor selling quartz beads prompts Brown to reveal that a recent 23andMe test uncovered their Nigerian heritage. At one table, Brown sticks their hand in a bowl of marbles, commenting under their breath, “Marbles are underrated—marbles fell off, man,” and then laughs.
While rifling through secondhand jewelry, he explains why, as a person with an interest in socialism, the 2003-2004 Detroit Pistons are his favorite championship basketball team of all time. “They were all role-players, and none of them were stars in their own right—that’s how basketball is supposed to work, not just like LeBron James and a bunch of bench players. I love really scrappy players that don’t give a fuck.”
Brown approaches music-making with an extemporaneous DIY creativity, and listening to their beautifully earnest songs can feel like rummaging through a treasure box. Across Erotic Probiotic 2, he experiments with lo-fi pop, new jack swing, post-punk, hip-hop, quiet storm, Baltimore club, classic deep house, new wave, and soul, with touchstones including Arthur Russell, Tony! Toni! Toné!, and PM Dawn. Brown’s rich baritone offers continuity amid their tangle of influences. He grew up mirroring the churchy vocal runs of Coko from SWV, and parts of his aesthetic are neatly summarized by one of his own tweets: “i like that little part of the early 90s (90-92) that still sounds/looks like the 80s but u can see it slowly turning into the 90s.”
