King Krule
Dum Surfer
XL/Remote Control
King Krule, aka Archy Ivan Marshall, has been making waves since his arrival on the international music scene via his first LP 6 Feet Beneath the Moon in 2013. This LP fused genres from grime to surf rock showcasing Marshall’s technical proficiency, musical history and soulful voice. Like Beck’s albums of the mid-1990s, 6 Feet demonstrated that a new prodigy had arrived. And he was simply doing what comes naturally; taking the sounds of his current environment and mashing it with his iTunes collection.
This eclectic mix of sounds continues with new single Dum Surfer, which I will say straight up is one of my tracks of 2017. The song opens with horror movie groans and reverbed zombies, (check the video for a class 80s horror throwback complete with VHS blur line across the bottom), before a low- down drumbeat kicks off the rough jazzy guitars and bass. Marshall’s vocal delivery recalls the soul of Billy Bragg and Edwyn Collins, while his everyday street lyrics occurrences such as “As venus completes orbit, I’m feeling slightly mashed, The stir fry didn’t absorb it, I need another slash,” recall contemporary songwriters like Mike Skinner or Pete Doherty.
The bossa nova vibe of the track paired with the dark slant of the lyrics and repeated echoed calls to a “dum surfer” result in a mix of catchiness and violence ensuring Marshall’s star continues to rise slowly but steadily. The album, The Ooz, is out now.
MICHAEL HOLLICK
