King Krule - 6 Feet Beneath The Moon
Precocious south Londoner’s jazz and rap-infused debut.
BRIT SCHOOL ALUMNI don’t usually make records like Archy ‘King Krule’ Marshall’s crepuscular debut. Rather than some drilled, telly-approved pop package, his is a characterful, noir synthesis of indie hip hop and melodious jazz guitars, with Marshall half-rapping his emotional pain in phlegmy tones akin to Joe Strummer or Pete Doherty. The album’s filmically-paced narrative of love gone wrong emerges gradually, with initial clarity soon descending into darkened underpasses of poetic disillusionment. These sentiments, like the existential angst of Has This Hit? are given extra heft by his comparative youth (he’s 19), making it a convincing late-night listen akin to Tricky’s Maxinequaye, The Streets’ Original Pirate Material and even, as on the loneliness-relishing Ocean Bed, the first Smiths album. When ghost-dub closer Bathed In Grey plumbs its valedictory depths and suggests a young Matt Johnson, the loose-but-precise whole seems starkly impressive.
6 Feet Beneath The Moon is out now.
Watch the video for Easy Easy here:
