"Out Getting Ribs", and "Baby Blue" Review and my Experience on the Space Heavy Tour

After attending 2023’s Coachella Valley Music Festival In April, I went on a concert hibernation for a few months. That was until I saw that King Krule would be performing at the House of Blues in Boston, Massachusetts, on September 28, 2023. King Krule, aka Archie Ivan Marshall, was born on August 24, 1994. Archie Marshall is an English singer, rapper, songwriter, music producer, and musician. He has dropped numerous projects, all receiving mass acclaim. Some of his past projects include 6 Feet Beneath the Moon, The OOZ, Man Alive!, and his most recent project Space Heavey, released in 2023. The best way to describe Archie's style of music is Indie Alternative Rock. According to Vogue, “His music blends elements of punk jazz with hip hop, darkwave, and trip hop”. Marshall has an American Run and a European Run of his Space Heavy Tour and is nearing the end of the tour with only a few shows left. On tour, he is playing with James Wilson(bass, and vocals), George Bass(drums), Jack Towell(guitar), Jamie Isaac(electronics), and Ignacio Salvadores(saxophone). In this concert review, I'll be writing about King Krule's, Space Heavy Tour, giving my opinion on the show, and my thoughts about my two favorite songs performed.

King Krule Performed an hour-and-a-half-long show with many great songs throughout the concert. However, the songs that emotionally moved me were “Out Getting Ribs” and “Baby Blue”. “Out Getting Ribs” was released in 2013 off King Krule's 6 Feet Beneath The Moon. The lyrical content of the song is deep. The track tells the story of a relationship that was once flourishing and is now dead and forgotten. Throughout the song, Archie Marshall reflects on the pain that came with the ending of the relationship and the continuous disappointment of being let down. According to Genius, “He’s lovesick and never expected he would be refused by a girl like this, let alone be so depressed by it”. The song is written in the key of D Major. However, this melancholy feeling comes from the F#m, and the intricate arpeggiated guitar plucks above the vocals. There is only one use of harmony in the piece at the 1:13 mark. However, this lack of harmony allows Archie's grit and rawness from his vocals to shine through the record, eliciting a heavy and emotional feel that connects with the lyrical content. Archie Marshall plays with pitches and melodies a lot on this record. Marshall uses the verses to showcase most of his lyrical content and melodic experimentation. Marshall uses pitches far and few between to make for an intricate melody. In the chorus, Marshall says little and has a bare supporting melody. There is rhythm throughout this record. However, it is not coming from a percussive instrument. The rhythm comes from the short and fast guitar plucks the moving melody, and the Chucky outro. The use of dynamics on this record is drastic and follows the direction of Marshall's vocals. There are extreme lows and extreme highs in dynamic change that make the track emotional. One of my favorite parts about this track is the tone on the main guitar, which sounds very glassy and adds to the airiness and dismal feeling elicited from the track. The timbre is also another one of my favorite aspects of this record. I believe no instrument could replicate the sound or elicit the same emotions the guitar does. I believe the texture of this track is polyphonic because of all the different melodic intricacies throughout the verses. All of these melodic lines together are what makes the track so emotionally intriguing and addicting for listeners. 

“Baby Blue” is another track released off 6 Feet Beneath the Moon. The lyrical content of this track is deep compared to a lot of Archie Marshall's songwriting. The song talks about another failed love while yearning for it. He sings about his willingness to do anything for it to be reciprocated. According to Genius, “Archy is saying to ‘Baby Blue’ he regrets not being something more in ‘blues’ life. He would’ve gone to great lengths for ‘blue’ if they had reciprocated that feeling of care”. The references to blue talk about a person. However, they could also signify the longevity of a relationship to potentially having a child with their lover, making sense of the title "Baby Blue" However this is simply my interpretation. The song is written in the key of B major but has that minor feel because of the Bm, Bm7, C#m, F#m, and Dm7 chords used throughout the record. In the chorus of the song, Marshall layers his vocals in doubles, occasionally tapping into lower and higher registers for harmonic content. Archie Marshall does not experiment with pitches or melody as much on this record as he did on “Out Getting Ribs”. The rhythm guitar is repetitive, and the melody follows this rhythm guitar the entire record. A lot of the rhythm coming from this record is the drums and the short and thumpy bassline. The dynamics drastically contrast with parts sounding very lofi and parts sounding very in your face, which makes for a more interesting song. The tone that comes from the guitar is clean, jazzy, and glassy, which gives the track an emotional appeal. I think the timbre from this record is unique. I can not see another instrument that could replicate the tone or elicit the same emotions Archie's guitar does. The texture strikes me as monophonic just because the melody on the track is not very experimental. It follows the rhythm guitar pretty religiously. All of these elements combined give “Baby Blue” the gentle, soothing, and melancholy vibe that attracts the listener.

Overall, the visuals and performance were entertaining. The band played the best they could and looked like they were having fun while doing it. Archie Marshall sang with grit and raw emotion, and the band's live sound was rich. I enjoyed how Archie incorporated every instrument used on Space Heavy into the live performance. It gave the audience a familiar yet different version of the song. Of course, live vs recorded will sound drastically different because of a lot of post-production that happens on records to make them streaming-ready. However, these changes sometimes strip away the rawness of a recording.

I enjoyed seeing King Krule live and would see him again if he returned to Boston, Massachusetts in the future. I enjoyed reviewing "Out Getting Ribs" and "Baby Blue". Both are beautiful records, each with their differences that make them unique.