If 6 Feet Beneath The Moon was simply an effort to get proper recordings of the tween love songs Archy Marshall wrote in his Zoo Kid days, The OOZ sees King Krule really spreading his wings. Where guitars were front and center for the duration of 6 Feet (probably to make some sort of statement), on this outing, Marshall seems much more comfortable showing his hip-hop and dance influences. His mesmerizing patchwork of celestial pads, Primo-indebted sample chops, street sax, post-punk beats and jazz guitar licks is tactfully interspersed with pirate radio ambience and Burial-esque rainfall. Peep him flexing his incredible range on codeine bossa nova joint “Logos,” basement punk show cannonball “Emergency Blimp” and sublime jazz meditation “The Cadet Leaps”; all mesmerizing. He settles into a bizarrely addictive Monster Mash flow on album highlight “Dum Surfer,” urgently trading bars with a spooky, alter ego like Ariel Pink. Marshall may only be 24, but OOZ is clearly the work of a grown man. In fact, the only time he shows his age is in thinking “Czech One” would make for a clever song title (sounds like something I would have thought was cute at 24, only the music would have been 100x worse; alternatively, this kid wrote “Out Getting Ribs” when he was just 16). Marshall builds a world you can completely lose yourself in, with loads more atmosphere than 6FBTM (think Basic Channel producing The Clash). Themes repeat themselves, and much like, say, any great Blue Note jazz record, you never know if you’re halfway in or halfway out at any point. Black double vinyl pressing housed in gatefold jacket; recommended.

• black double vinyl pressing
• housed in gatefold jacket w/ printed inner sleeves
• digital download included
• music label: True Panther Sounds 2017

reviewed by hannibal chew 10/2017