Man Alive! - King Krule: Review
is a London based singer songwriter who has found success blending together genres like post-punk, indie and electronica. Man Alive! is his fourth record and the follow-up to his most successful record to date 2017's The Ooz.
Review By Lavender:
King Krule is an artist I've long been waiting to finally fall in love with. His unique vocals and depraved post-punk sound palette are haunting on their own. But when it all comes together I have been bored or confused by the final product far more often than not with his music. When The Ooz came out a few years ago and was met with a ton of critical acclaim I was excited to dive in but what other people described just didn't translate to me. I was hoping that a new record and a few years to re-align his sound would make King Krule appeal to me, but while Man Alive! is better, some of the same problems persist.
The records first two singles were decently strong and I still enjoy them on the record. (Don't Let The Dragon) Draag On is one of the slower tracks here but its pretty rewarding in its clarity and one of the more fleshed out tracks here. Alone, Omen 3 is the records big single and its easy to see why with the pretty instrumental flourishes and predominant vocals, I like the song but it isn't one of my favorites on the record. The last single Cellular exemplifies all the typical problems I've had with King Krule over the years with some fascinating individual parts that just do not belong together. The song sounds like a post-punk vocalist being forced to sing with The Radio Dept. and as good as some of the moments in the song are it fails to finish.
Stoned Again is a track that takes a really long time to build up to its climax but the wait isn't worth the tracks ultimate conclusion. The track has some constant changes of pace that never really let the song settle or build up any momentum. Perfecto Miserable does have some pretty potent emotions but I can't really get with the singing and compared to the rest of the instrumental here it also feels pretty lackadaisical on that front. Airport Antenatal Airplane is a strange short detour that is too weird to be catchy but not enough to be interesting and is one of the biggest head scratching moments here. Finally the record ends on a bit of a let down note with Please Complete Thee. It does have some pretty slick guitar riffs but they are still nothing compared to the huge bass hits the song opens up with and the track is more of a slow fade into nothing than a climactic final statement.
Another issue with some of these tracks here is that they blend together big time and even songs that are good on their own begin to sound average. Comet Face is a more straightforward post-punk song that is pretty solid. Underclass is a swanky number with much clearer vocals than the rest of the record and while it maybe isn't the most interesting song it is sonically solid. Supermarche and Energy Fleets both have slow starts but get way better from there. The former gives off a spiraling paranoia that leads to an intoxicating climax, and the latter gets completely manic and sounds like the entire world is collapsing in on itself.
The album does have some really great moments starting with The Dream a short track but one I really like. It has a short instrumental loop that is absolutely hypnotic and the slurred spoke word parts pair perfectly with it for a really unique sound. Slinky is one of the loudest and best tracks of the bunch and I love the massive crescendos and the harsh strained vocals beside them. The combinations is unlike much of anything else the record has to offer. The best song on the record is unequivocally Theme For The Cross a beautiful, haunting slow burner of a saxophone number that sounds like a Mark Kozelek song from hell. Not only is it worth every second of its four minute runtime but it was one of the only songs here I was really truly excited to dive into again and again.
Man Alive! may be my favorite King Krule record yet, but I still feel like I'm not getting what everyone sees in his music. With there being so much clear talent in his performances and arrangements the assembly still leaves a lot of room for improvement. I really do think he has the potential to make something amazing and parts of this record and his past works prove it, but I can only hope that the truly great record he is capable of comes down the pipe sooner rather than later. 6/10
