King Krule's
You Heat Me Up You Cool Me Down is their second live album to be released within three years -- but frontman, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist
Archy Marshall didn't plan it that way.
King Krule were just kicking off a world tour to support the stellar
Man Alive! when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived. They'd managed to get in just three shows -- two in Paris, one in Amsterdam -- before canceling the tour. The best music from these concerts was compiled for this document.
The tunes are drawn from
King Krule's somewhat small catalog -- a healthy portion from
Man Alive! and
The Ooz, with a few faves from
6 Feet Beneath the Moon. Frontman and songwriter
Archy Marshall seemingly agrees with
Bob Dylan's aesthetic when it comes to performing his own catalog: He rearranges songs constantly to keep them fresh.
Opener "Out Getting Ribs" (from
Marshall's related
Zoo Kid project) registers as a laconic, emotionally intense ballad with droning saxophones, slowly plucked guitars, and kick drums, while
Marshall allows his lyrics to emerge slowly before the track explodes in conclusion. "The Ooz" commences as a soul ballad, but turns on its distorted bassline into something abstract, improvisational, and nearly dangerous. "Stoned Again" lurches forward with fuzzed-out guitars and loopy synth, with hovering deep saxophone and a kinetic drum kit marking a slow, shuffling processional.
Marshall urgently pushes out the words with a punk swagger as the tune gathers force and becomes a gnarly garage rocker. The knotty, razor-wire Anglo-soul in "Rock Bottom" delivers skittering dynamics and fist-pumping grooves to reveal the twin influences of
Paul Weller and
Curtis Mayfield simultaneously.
Marshall introduces "Comet Face" by intoning "I don't have too much to say," before careening across garage jazz and post-punk, complete with an unhinged sax solo that recalls
Ted Milton's
Blurt. "Baby Blue" is as tender as it is desperate.
Marshall's words emerge hesitantly at first, almost mumbled as he sets out his sad truth: "My sandpaper sigh engraves a line/Into the rust of your tongue/Girl I could've been someone, to you/Would have painted the skies blue...." Problem is, she has no idea he's alive. A gritty, double-tracked tenor saxophone rebukes him and takes over after the bridge. Closer "Easy Easy" is an observation of working-class life as the protagonist struggles to accept the day-to-day grind without losing his mind. The crowd participation is full and enthusiastic, transforming the tune into a Cockney workers' anthem. Guitars blast across the refrain as the drums double-time
Marshall, who is at his honest, sometimes menacing, off-key best.
While
King Krule fans will readily consider
You Heat Me Up You Cool Me Down essential listening, there is a serious argument to be made for this as a fine introduction to the uninitiated. ~ Thom Jurek
