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A messy room and a slender ginger-haired boy, who used to (?) call himself King Krule, busy composing with an MPC2000; the guitar in the corner, set aside. This is the image of “A New Place 2 Drown”, the new album by Archy Marshall.
Two years after the debut “6 Feet Beneath The Moon”, the Londoner born in '94 returns with a personal and intimate album released under his own name, for the first time without hiding behind an alias. An album distant from the debut, but not baffling to those familiar with his journey: indeed, the instrumental-rap vein has always been a component present in his music with various monikers (DJ JD Sports, Edgar The Beatmaker, Sub Luna City), not to mention certain friendships.
“ANP2D” is released in mid-December, a time of year when music critics are busy compiling year-end lists, and it is conceived as a soundtrack, part of a multimedia project that also includes a book and a short film, in collaboration with his brother Jack.
Dark electronics and (semi)instrumental rap are the coordinates chosen by Archy for this new chapter in his career. Beats with a clear jazz influence, typical of the golden age of east-coast hip-hop. 12 tracks with a black soul and a well-defined sonic identity. Tr(h)ip-hop anesthetized, where the 90s boom-clap is adapted into a futuristic slow-motion. More narcoleptic than dreamy atmospheres, set in the urban context of the English suburbs. So forget about “Easy Easy” pt. 2.
“Any God of Yours”, structured on what sounds like a sample from the Twin Peaks soundtrack, serves as an introduction. The third track “Arise Dear Brother” is the pearl of the album, the meeting point between this and the previous work, as well as the summa of his style in which smooth rhythms coexist with the peculiar languid and jangle guitar we had come to know. Everything is measured with meticulous care and precision: “Ammi Ammi” originally takes up James Blake's lesson, the liquid “Sex With Nobody” is the offspring of his collaboration with Mount Kimbie, the disorienting and alien “The Sea Liner MK 1”.
The bare and essential lyrics and the voice, often replaced by vocal samples, in the background render the album almost instrumental. In reality, the warm and baritone voice of the former Zoo Kid is the true link between all his musical incarnations: vocal lines sung, spoken, and, at times, rapped.
“A New Place 2 Drown” is music to listen to with the lights off and strictly in headphones to ensure none of its nuances are missed.
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