For any keen predator of the indie blogosphere, there’s only one ginger whose official music release has been highly anticipated. And before any of you poor souls who know no better, quip (with sincerity) “
Ed Sheeran?” I will stop you before you commit social suicide and are attacked to death by a gang of triangle brandishing hipsters. The unveiling of King Krule has waved goodbye to the formerly titled Zoo Kid<, and his fuzzy demos recorded in the bedroom of Archy Marshall (ordinary teenager and musical prodigy), and said hello to 12 minutes and 55 seconds of pure unadulterated bliss of an enchantingly unique sound. Already at the age of sixteen, Zoo Kid’s demos released on bandcamp are enough to be blown away by, but within a year it seems as though Zoo Kid’s grown up a hell of a lot and earned his new prestigious title of King Krule. Aptly named after the night bus that goes through South-East London, ‘363N63’ opens the EP and as the beat starts to kick in and accompany the haunting twangs of the electric guitar, you get the feeling that you’re about to be taken on a journey.
The multitude of influences are apparent, especially within ‘Portrait In ‘Black & Blue’, as the traditional guitar riffs reminiscent of a blues record combined with the steady syncopation of drums somehow manage to turn something that should in principle sound dark and brooding into something lively and full of energy. Even as he croons, “I lost my soul to the blues a long time ago,” it seems he’s retained a lot of it and it’s fuelling this masterpiece, as there’s something heartfelt and earnest about Archy’s voice. It’s unabashed cockney twangs are raw in ‘The Noose of Jah City’ who’s concluding title tells us that it marks the end of this lo-fi darkwave journey. Everything about this record seems to hold a lot more wisdom than expected for a seventeen year old, but it’s exactly that which keeps it more upbeat and lighter than it sounds on paper. It seems as though the combination of dubstep influences and traditional soul vibes have created something distinctive and entirely impossible to plagiarise even to the point that it’s unable to be categorised; (Zoo Kid’s bandcamp sees the tags, “white boy soul”, “intelligent cheese” and “psychobilly.”…) it seems that Archy Marshall has not only isolated himself from the typical constraints of music and it’s genres but has created a parallel universe that is entirely separate from this world too and only accessible through his music. Pretty impressive for a seventeen year old.
