6 Feet Beneath the Moon… Picture not to scale
Review: King Krule – 6 Feet Beneath the Moon
Published on September 2nd, 2013 | Jonny Abrams
Trusting that you’ll permit us this introductory dabble with understatement, King Krule’s debut album 6 Feet Beneath the Moon certainly doesn’t sound like the work of your average 19-year-old.
Perhaps no other album has begged the question “HOW old??” as much since Gomez‘s Mercury-winning Bring It On LP had everyone wondering how five lads from Southport came to be possessed by the spirits of old swamp blues musicians from 1950s Mississippi.
6 Feet Beneath the Moon is most immediately striking for King Krule’s slurring, growly gift of a voice, one that seems to channel Randy Newman, Tom Waits and Captain Beefheart all at the same time. However, the meandering songwriting and nocturnally jazzy atmosphere prove equally transfixing.
The strung out ‘n’ sophisticated songwriting of “Baby Blue” is what might have happened if Pete Doherty had spent a year or two listening to Miles Davis and Talk Talk, while the quick-shuffle and brass section of “A Lizard State” manages to stave off easy accusations of derivation by sounding not just genuine but jolly well inspired.
“Spastic gyrations and abbreviated bathing suits, see I suit you” – Jake Bugg this ain’t. If anything, 6 Feet Beneath the Moon is the antidote to such suspicion-arousing rehashing.
For all that King Krule spews a quite manic stream of consciousness all over it, there’s a kind of blissed-out air about 6 Feet Beneath the Moon that clutches you close and warms you like a bosom. Such is reflected, albeit (presumably) unintentionally, in “The Krokadile” with the line “I need the warmth of a brother to hold / I need the warmth of your mother to hold”.
Where did this come from? How will it progress? Let the mystery be but part of the magic.
6 Feet Beneath the Moon is out now on XL.
You can buy 6 Feet Beneath the Moon on iTunes and on Amazon.
Rocksucker says: Four Quails out of Five!
About the Author
Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.
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