But these songs are hammered into reality. The opening suite’s Martin Hannett-style drums and weathered ambience evoke first-wave post-punk, when warped effects and dub spaciousness hinted at new worlds. Marshall played and recorded nearly every instrument on Man Alive!-saxophonist Ignacio Salvadores also howls away-and the hollowed-out sound turns the darkness chilly. It plays as a sort of diptych: First the wily escapades-four steely, corrupted punk blasts-then a trove of laments filled with despair, despondency, and occasional knives of light. Moving with her to North West England, he dredged his blues and completed the album as a requiem to urban ennui. The record was halfway finished when, during a spell of habitual boozing, Marshall learned that his partner, Charlotte Patmore, was pregnant. Into this mythos steps Man Alive!, aesthetically dire and fatefully timed. Little surprise that this cult, formed during his teen explorations as Zoo Kid, has endured: The lanky London outlaw with cement-mixer lungs and a disastrous report card, redeemed by a volatile and monstrous talent, has a cute fairy-tale ring to it. Down in the comment section lurks his attendant brood of fatalists (“Clinical depression season is upon us, lads”), apostles (“If the moon could listen to music, he would listen to King Krule”), and solemn connoisseurs (“Like all great poetry, only a few will appreciate it”). In a recent video for the narcotic lament “ Don’t Let the Dragon (Draag On),” Marshall burns at the stake, martyring himself.
That’s unlikely to alienate the fanbase for whom Marshall scoops out his guts. The putrid air of Man Alive! turns even the sweetest songs sour, as if they were stowed inside his body so long they became dank and light-fearing. His third album as King Krule sounds like what it is, which is anguish. Aquatic symbolism, meticulous production, and pearly embellishments made his grotto feel, for a while, like somewhere you could bathe. On his best albums to date, The Ooz and A New Place 2 Drown, the South London songwriter turned troubled waters into exquisite fountains.
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