King Krule

King Krule is the stage name of Archy Ivan Marshall, a singer, songwriter, musician, rapper and record producer from Southwark in London, United Kingdom. Born in 1994, he begins recording music in 2010 under the name Zoo Kid and adopts the King Krule name the following year, taking it from King Creole, the Elvis Presley film. His music combines art rock, electronic, hip hop, indie rock, jazz fusion and neo-psychedelia, with other elements including punk jazz, darkwave, trip hop and post-punk.

Early work and aliases

Marshall writes and records from a young age and, as a teenager, enters Glastonbury Festival’s unsigned artist competition. His first release as Zoo Kid is the digital-only U.F.O.W.A.V.E. EP in 2010. Two tracks from it, “Out Getting Ribs” and “Has This Hit”, later appear on 7-inch vinyl through House Anxiety. In 2011 he issues a self-titled EP on True Panther Sounds, a label owned by Matador Records, and in the following year he releases a one-off single on Rinse. He is longlisted for the BBC Sound of 2013.

Albums and collaborations

After signing a UK deal with XL Recordings and performing at Glastonbury, Marshall completes his debut album, 6 Feet Beneath the Moon, which is released in 2013. The album includes previously issued material alongside new songs such as “Easy Easy”, “Baby Blue” and “A Lizard State”, and it reaches number 65 on the UK album chart and the Billboard 200 in the United States. Marshall then works with his brother Jack on A New Place 2 Drown in 2015, a more electronic set of recordings issued under his own name rather than King Krule and accompanied by a book of poetry, photography and art. Around this period he also appears on tracks by Mount Kimbie, Ratking and Trash Talk.

Later releases

King Krule’s second album, The Ooz, appears in 2017. It is preceded by the songs “Czech One”, “Dum Surfer” and “Half Man Half Shark”, all of which feature saxophone by Ignacio Salvadores. The album reaches number 23 in the UK and number 114 in the US, appears on numerous year-end lists and is nominated for the Mercury Prize. Man Alive! follows in 2020. In 2021 he releases You Heat Me Up to Cool Me Down, a 17-track live album made from tapes of the three shows he plays before the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020. Space Heavy is released in 2023; it is written between 2020 and 2022 while Marshall travels between London and Liverpool, with themes built around “the space between”. He writes most of the lyrics alone and records the music with producer Dilip Harris and his road band.

Background and early influences

Marshall is raised by artistic parents. He is the godson of drummer Dave Ruffy of the Ruts, and as a child often sees his uncle Ollie Howard play in ska group Top Cats.