Marshall sings as if he were in a stupor, discussing the toll that depression takes on him: “I keep telling those, expelling those / Negative holes to go away / But it seems to grip more everyday.” It’s a woozy but simple track, with only drums and a guitar accompanying Marshall’s voice. “(Don’t Let the Dragon) Draag On” proves that Marshall is still capable of creating an appealing short song. Known to be an avid pothead, Marshall expresses distaste for drugs after witnessing their negative effects, claiming that he is now “glad to decline” an offer to take them. Lyrically, it offers a glimpse into the way that Marshall’s perception of drugs changed over time. Its sonic motifs play for too short a time for the listener to appreciate, and the song drifts away quickly without making an impact.Īnother album highlight, “Comet Face,” features an infectious bass line, a saxophone, and lively beat interweaving over a sample of Otis Redding’s “Tramp” to create a menacing punk sound. Despite the sonic and thematic strengths of “Supermarché,” its short runtime impedes it from being a memorable song. He captures the feeling of longing for a loved one in the most haunting way possible, crooning, “And when I’m left alone, it’s so damaging / And in this violence, the walls cave in / I’m not able to escape at all.”ĭespite its rough start, Man Alive! picks up the pace with tracks like “Supermarché.” According to Marshall in a Pitchfork interview, “‘Supermarché’ talks about propaganda and brainwashing, in the sense of how the media can … influence anyone to believe something.” It begins with sparse drumming and a minimalistic bass line, but as Marshall sings about people’s growing paranoia in the chorus, dissonant guitars layer on top of each other. It’s a simple love song in which Marshall leaves a voicemail telling his love interest how much he misses and loves her. However, “Perfecto Miserable” is lyrically one of the most beautiful tracks on the album. The track’s changing tone keeps it interesting, but its production feels too compressed at points, making it difficult to appreciate any intricacies in the instrumentation. Similarly, “Perfecto Miserable” balances the moody and dreamy facets typical of a King Krule song. Despite its clunky production, this song shows that Marshall’s pen game has remained strong, showcasing his usual cryptic lyrics about isolation and lost love. It features a variety of incoherent, alien-sounding synths, and vocal samples under Marshall’s rhythmic singing. The opening track, “Cellular,” introduces listeners to the muddled sound that predominates the album. As a result, Marshall introduces too many sonic ideas, none of them developed enough to create compelling songs. On Man Alive!, almost every song feels like an interlude - only Marshall tries to pack too much complexity into each song’s short runtime. Although The OOZ has interludes that bring little to its narrative, their simple compositions space out the denser songs on the album. Rather than fleshing out his signature sound, the record takes some of the worst elements of The OOZ and amplifies them, creating tracks that sound derivative of those filler songs.įrom the start, Man Alive!’s flaws are clear. This album strips away the artistic voice that Marshall set up for himself, trading jazz punk for lo-fi synth rock. These major life changes permeated into his music as he steps away on Man Alive! from his previously established creative vision.
The hiatus also brought a relocation from London to west England.
Three years later, King Krule has returned with his long-awaited Man Alive! In the time leading up to this release, Marshall entered a relationship with partner Charlotte Patmore the couple welcomed their first child in March 2019. Although The OOZ felt overindulgent at times with the abundance of atmospheric interludes, it saw Marshall’s growth as a creative visionary. On his sophomore album The OOZ, King Krule introduced harsher punk and more dominant jazz elements to his music. His debut album, 2013’s 6 Feet Beneath the Moon, introduced listeners to the contemplative atmosphere, major seventh chords, and angsty lyrics that came to define his music.
His baritone growl, iconic red hair, and unique fusion of punk, jazz, and hip-hop have become synonymous with his stage name.
At this point in his career, King Krule (born Archy Marshall) has become a legend in indie rock circles.
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