Man Alive!

Man Alive! finds King Krule—aka Archy Marshall—still submerged in his trademark murk, but there’s a newfound clarity drifting through the gloom. Released on 21 February 2020, it’s the follow-up to 2017’s sprawling The Ooz, and though still moody and meandering, Man Alive! trims the excess and sharpens its focus. What emerges is a record less suffocating and more settled—if not exactly serene.

Marshall’s signature fusion of jazz, post-punk, and hip-hop still haunts every corner of this album, but there’s a sense of restraint here that makes the chaos feel intentional. Ignacio Salvadores’ saxophone, a key ingredient throughout, injects flashes of warmth into Marshall’s greyscale palette. Tracks like “(Don’t Let the Dragon) Draag On” and “Stoned Again” still conjure inner-city malaise, but the pacing is tighter, and the storytelling more distilled.

Critics were mostly drawn in, though not always convinced. Some praised the album’s lyricism and atmosphere—Pitchfork noted the “intensity with words,” and NME highlighted its “poetic metropolitan storytelling.” Others found it too elusive, lost in its own haze. Still, for fans of King Krule’s introspective universe, Man Alive! feels like a natural evolution: less raw nerve, more bruised reflection.

It may not convert sceptics, but it doesn’t try to. This is Archy Marshall on his own wavelength—low-lit, nocturnal, and unmistakably alive.