After two feverishly received albums as King Krule, plus another low-key outing under his own name, this extraordinarily gifted 25-year-old from Peckham in South London adds further depth and substance to his oeuvre with another wondrous long-player called ‘Man Alive!’. It arrives packed full of his trademark sonic ambition and compositional skill, as well as the now-familiar corrosive lyricism and lurid social observation.

King Krule's (formerly Zoo Kid) second release brings with it, an expansion of vision, both musically and thematically. The connective tissue between these five tracks is still Marshall’s stark, direct lyrics, but over the span of the self-titled EP, there is an arresting sonic progression, as his songs open up to become a loose knit meditation and renewal of hope in the face of desperation. Shades of The Streets’ plainspoken and observant ramble dance with the heart on sleeve confessions of Billy Bragg. Archy’s influences are a patchwork for his voice to lay in, woven from several generations music as divergent as the 80s romantics, jazz, no wave and dub.

The first vocal track 'Bleak Bake', for instance, opens with levitating keyboards and Marshall clearing his throat, before sampled strings and 808 drum 'pooms' swoon in and he sighs. 'The Noose of Jah City' drives the knife in deeper -some of his most intoxicating incantations to date- with Marshall singing of being “suffocated in concrete” over a lushly upholstered backdrop of chiming guitars and shuffling sampled beats. While in the gorgeous 'Portrait in Black and Blue' he unleashes a bounding piece of classic croon. But even though the subject matter may at times be harrowing, the songs themselves are never anything less than exquisitely crafted, possessed of an almost spectral beauty, as epitomised in the shimmering instrumental intro “363N63”. Taken as a whole, the “King Krule” EP is the sound of a young man growing up and attempting to grapple with the realities of the world he inhabits, and a fascinating, brutal journey it is too.

★「Blue Wave」风格创始者，从Beyoncé至BBC Music全面力捧伦敦90后天才唱作人最新专辑。
★蓝调、灵魂、爵士、迷幻、庞克、嘻哈；下意识、印象派、梦与秽物，爱情。融合、融合、再融合。
2013年，Archy Marshall将最精华的作品通通献给他众多化名之一的King Krule，发表专辑《6 Feet Beneath the Moon》，20岁屁孩从此震撼全球各类型音乐人，他宛如Morrissey的月之暗面，可以满嘴粗俗脏话、也能自上流艺术与文学中有所情感触动。自The Smiths、《猜火车》到现在，伦敦（或整个人类世界）依旧向下沉沦，市井的无奈，被他写得美丽如奥德赛诗句。他是我们期待已久的新英雄。
大量巡回与各方邀约合作大量消耗他的精力，虽然和画家哥哥合作、结合诗与艺术书的专辑《A New Place 2 Drown》评价很好，但Archy仍遇上撞墙期，没有满意的作品足用King Krule为名发表，和Frank Ocean的合作因成果不佳亦无疾而终。他把注意力转向人类日常，一些下意识产出，如排泄物、耳垢、口水、鼻水、毛发，被人们当作污垢的东西，还有他的异国爱欲，充塞在脑袋中搅和，成就这张超现实意象、印象派音乐、意识流破碎语句、多国语系的新专辑。
《The OOZ》中传统结构的歌曲不多，艺术性很强，想听他招牌「Blue Wave」风格可以从专辑最末的〈The OOZ〉、〈Midnight 01 (Deep Sea Diver)〉、〈La Lune〉开始，爵士风味更强，色彩更蓝更黑；再深沉一点，〈Slush Puppy〉、〈Lonely Blue〉可以踏触到他的忧郁及苦痛，进而到焦躁的〈Emergency Blimp〉、〈Half Man Half Shark〉，像是Sonic Youth与Fela Kuti终于合作了一样。
与其说灵感枯竭困扰着Archy，他承认经历了一段心意没有得到回复的恋情，写在《The OOZ》的好几首歌曲当中，所以整张专辑更像是Archy的爱情悲歌。首支单曲〈Czech One〉的MV中，外着飞机窗外的他，如果你有真正爱过，你会懂他的表情，虽然痛，但沉溺且享受，没有尽头般地分泌浪漫激素。