5.5/10
Favorite Track: "Alone, Omen 3" Least Favorite Track: "Slinky"
The last we heard from singer-songwriter King Krule aka Archy Marshall was on his 2017 project: The OOZ. I remember hearing a lot of buzz revolving that album in 2017, but for whatever reason I skipped out on it. Due to this, his brand new 2020 studio album Man Alive! has been my first experience with King Krule’s music. While listening through his discography it becomes painfully apparent that something drastic changed in his life between the release of The OOZ and this new project. Where The OOZ sported a lo-fi sound with a moody and chill aesthetic, Man Alive! is often abrasive and off putting. The themes of the project detail his problems with things like substance abuse on “Stoned Again”, loneliness on “Alone, Omen 3”, and unrequited love on nearly every other track here. The dark, aggressive, and depressing vibe all over this project does a great job at detailing Marshall’s dark state of mind. For that very reason, this album stands as easily the most confusing thing I’ve listened to this year. I can appreciate the emotional sentiment of Man Alive! but the soundscape that Archy uses to exemplify these feelings is often so repetitive, sleepy, and dry. Simply put; it lacks sonic ingenuity and charisma but flourishes when it comes to expression. Man Alive! also serves as Krule’s most experimental project to date. Much of what we hear on Man Alive! is off the wall, unique, and rather disturbing. For example, site “The Dreams' ' slow descent into outer space, with its circular, bouncy synth outro. However, outside of moments like this where the experimentation becomes more interesting than strange Man Alive! lacks anything sonically memorable, track for track. Quite honestly I’m torn here, Marshall’s attempt to emote how he is feeling is more or less successful, but I can’t see myself coming back to this album even as a listen when I’m feeling down, and therefore it fails to live up to other dark and disturbing projects.