Courtesy of Matador Records
23-year old Archy Marshall is an enigma of talent. The first thing you notice about his sound is his unique lower register painted in a thick British accent. After going through a plethora of aliases from “Zoo Kid”, “DJ JD Sports”, “Lankslacks”, and “Edgar the Beatmaker”, “King Krule” stuck as his main solo stage name (an ode to Elvis Presley’s film King Creole).
King Krule’s breakthrough album 6 Feet Beneath the Moon shines as a cult classic in its bare-bones aesthetic topped with raw melancholic crooning. Online music critic Anthony Fantano describes his sound as, “listening to some sort of intimate performance and he’s just plugged in an electric guitar into a small amp and is playing in a chapel or a stone underpass underneath a downtown London bridge.” The lyrical content mainly deals with lost romance and misery, half sung and half spoken or rapped. Archy’s guitar stands in the forefront of the production which ranges from eccentric jazz chords to somber arpeggios creating a decorous template often accompanied with a trip-hop inspired drum loop.
The opener to this record (“Easy Easy”) honestly gives me goose bumps every time I put on the vinyl.
King Krule’s newest record, The OOZ, sinks deeper into the abyss as a hypnogogic stream of sub consciousness. This time the production is more diverse and colorful featuring live instrumentation and a fiery sax on several cuts. Even though Archy already had a very distinct sound so early on in his career, this album shows a lot of growth in his artistry along with experimentation in expressing the fury of youth.
One of my favorite cuts off The OOZ is “Czech One” in part because the music video is so elegantly poetic.
Opening for King Krule is film score composer and singer/songwriter Mal Devisa. Pitchfork describes her voice as “a force of gravity, an instrument of rare range and seemingly limitless capacity for empathy”. If you like Alabama Shakes you will definitely enjoy her craft.
Her latest LP “Kiid” is available for stream and to purchase on bandcamp here.
Don’t miss out on King Krule and Mal Devisa this Friday Nov. 3 at the Showbox.
Doors open at 8:00 PM.
This show is SOLD OUT.
SEVA GAITSKIY | KXSU Music Reporter