In 2017, Archy Marshall, an English artist better known by his stage name, King Krule, released his third overall record, “The OOZ.”
If you remember my review from that year, I absolutely loved this record; I went on to put it in the upper half of my top 10 records of that year.
It’s a dark, atmospheric record that has one of my favorite elements for an album to have: a real sense of space.
It joins the ranks of albums like Radiohead’s “Kid A” or Frank Ocean’s “Blonde,” where the record develops such a unique style of production that it almost begins to feel like a place you can visit, where the guitar tones and Marshall’s vocals blend in such a way that makes it feel physical, visceral. “The OOZ” is a dark, engrossing record that has consistently been one of my favorite records to continuously return to.
The problem is, on Marshall’s newest album, “Man Alive!,” it seems like he’s been consistently returning to “The OOZ” as well. If “The OOZ” is an album that takes place in a physical space, “Man Alive!” takes place in that same space, and it suffers for it.
This, of course, makes it pretty difficult to judge “Man Alive!” on its own merits. Yes, it’s doing the same things that I loved so much on “The OOZ.” But it’s doing the exact same things.
The comparisons are obvious fairly early on. And it goes beyond this simply being another album by the same artist. Compare the song “Comet Face” to songs off “The OOZ.” Marshall obviously seems to be in the same creative head space as he was three years ago on the previous record, as all the same songwriting techniques are there.
“Comet Face” features the same sort of lurching chorus, vocals that are both growled and wailed, and a screaming saxophone way down low in the mix, sounding as though it’s recorded some distance away from the rest of the band.
That’s just … exactly what we heard on “The OOZ.”
Same with “Perfecto Miserable,” a meandering mid-album cut with plaintive vocals and a repetitive guitar part. It sounds cool and moody, but it’s specifically very similar to “The Locomotive,” the second track off the previous record.
There are some truly beautiful moments on “Man Alive!” with promotional single “Alone, Omen 3” standing out to me in a major way. But the record just does not do enough to set itself apart from Marshall’s previous work.
Unfortunately, it’s a position that I often see critically acclaimed artists find themselves in, especially ones who are praised for their dark idiosyncrasies. I said something similar in my review of the latest EP from Earl Sweatshirt, and I know I’ve said it about other artists as well.
When an artist comes to a point that they’re critically acclaimed for a dramatic new direction they’ve taken their work, as both Marshall and Sweatshirt have done, they have to make the decision on whether their next project should be an even further evolution or if they’re going to try to do it again.
Marshall tried to do it again, but that’s exactly why “Man Alive!” fails.
