Space Heavy

In 2013, Archy Marshalls King Krule released 6 Feet Beneath the Moon, a loopy homemade collection of tunes that jammed together bits from jazz, post-punk, hip-hop, indie rock, bedsit EDM, and even bossa nova. Punters admired Marshalls brutally honest, outsider storytelling and biting, haunted, social observations. With that offering on the cusp of turning ten in August, King Krule delivers Space Heavy, their fourth long-player. Remarkably, despite becoming a more insightful lyricist, a better guitarist, and a more focused songwriter, Marshalls approach hasnt really changed all that much save for being even looser, with production architecture that is almost dreamlike in the sense of drift. The songs on Space Heavy were written as Marshall rail-commuted between residences in London and Liverpool. Traveling made him aware of, and obsessed with, existing in "the spaces between." He began writing songs about mental space, physical space, cosmic and spiritual space, and the various psychological and emotional spaces existing between humans, as well as the self we see in the mirror. He attempted -- and largely succeeds -- to chart the spaces between what we feel and see, between what we recognize and what we discover. Much of Space Heavy sounds like Marshall is trying to blueprint a world that doesnt yet exist and may, in fact, be undiscoverable. The dreaminess and disorientation in King Krules music is evident on set-opener "Flimsier." Washed-out ambient electronics flood the foreground before fingerpicked electric guitars rein it in. He sings from the depths, "Well, as this night bleeds/You could love me forever/Maybe thats why We dont work, we dont work …." The protagonist, shielded by the lyrical six-string and slowly shuffling snare, is bewildered by his own acceptance of his heartbreak as if it were inevitable. "Pink Shell" is delivered in wooly post-punk as James Wilsons bass throb collides with Marshalls and Jack Towells guitars and Ignacio Salvadores honking tenor sax. "Seaforth" is a tender, vulnerable indie pop nugget that asks with bewildered intelligence, "Whyd you return into the world of distant past/We separate across the blades of growin grass/I see you, the same eyes/Reflect the world that falls apart/Theres a fire in my heart…." The ballad "Tortoise of Independency" suggests the influence of Vini Reillys Durutti Column. Its lyric blends seamlessly with the drifting guitars and whispering drums. "Seagirl features New York vocalist Raveena singing above lilting guitars before drums and keys kick in, elevating her vocal above Marshalls. While the title track begins as a quirky little jazz tune, it transforms into an exercise in unhinged post-punk. "If Only It Was Warmth" finds the rhythm section in an austere drift as Marshall expresses deep disappointment to the absent beloved. Taken whole, Space Heavy is tense, primitive, and unnerving lyrically. While observing the spaces between, Marshalls songs -- reflective, consumptive, instructive, and compelling -- simultaneously create and destroy spaces between the worlds he observes, so he remakes the world he lives in with restraint, grace, a broken heart, and brutal honesty. ~ Thom Jurek

衝撃の登場から10年、いまだカリスマの衰えないシンガー・ソングライターの4作目。緊張感を湛えていた前作と比較すると、今回は音に柔らかさを感じさせ、特有のバリトン・ヴォイスもどこか抑え目。エクスペリメンタルなポップ盤として、オルタナに傾倒していた90年代終盤のブラー諸作を想起させる。白眉はNYのシンガー、ラヴィーナを迎えたバラード"Seagirl"。
bounce (C)田中亮太