King Krule – The OOZ (True Panther, 2017)
Archy Marshall has released his second album under the moniker King Krule, revealing his maturation as a musician and producer. Marshall melds elements of jazz, punk, dark wave and trip hop together into an immersive and isolating soundscape. The OOZ ricochets from murmuring streams of consciousness and jazzy hooks to howling vocals and grimy punk riffs, all of which are most prominent in the dark “Dum Surfer.” King Krule has crafted a more polished and brooding sound with this new project, though the album’s lengthy tracklist of 19 songs is a bit self-indulgent. A few tracks enter into repetitive, sleepy jazz noodling without much variation in between. Marshall seems acquainted with and self-aware of his darkness, and when successful, the lingering soundscapes replicate both the mundaneness and dissociation of isolation. The OOZ is a hypnotic soundscape of an idiosyncratic psyche worth diving into, if patient enough for its track length.
7.5/10
Trial track: “Dum Surfer”
