4 years after "6 Feet Beneath the Moon", King Krule has dropped his sophomore album, "The Ooz". As melancholic and nocturnal as ever, King Krule has changed his style to incorporate many more sounds.
"The Ooz" procures a moody and urban nighttime atmosphere from start to finish. The album is filled with post-punk riffs, jazzy keyboard stylings, and down-tempo trip hop rhythms to flesh this all out. King Krule's voice meanders through this urban dystopia he creates, howling along with the various genres.
King Krule's lyrics and voice are abstract and elegant, channeling cathartic anger, sadness, and everything in between during the album length. Though still very young, King Krule seems to posses an uncannily unorthodox and deep psyche that he brings out in his music. Off this, "The Ooz" conveys a space theme throughout its majority, based on the ideal of being lost in your own thoughts somewhere between Earth's atmosphere and the moon.
Irregular and erratic, "The Ooz" shows King Krule becoming a full adult, and his struggles with it as a result. The album is an emotional roller coaster of a story centered on a relationship that wraps itself up very nicely at the end by petering out through acceptance. Constantly shifting and going back on what was once said, "The Ooz" leaves the listener constantly surprised at what will happen next both lyrically and musically.
The album itself is very long, clocking in at over an hour. This could make it boring for some at times, as all King Krule's different sounds seem to meld into one sonic soup. However, King Krule keeps his album varied and eclectic enough overall that he doesn't ever stray too far into that territory badly.
King Krule has fleshed out his sound immensely since "6 Feet Beneath the Moon", incorporating everything from spoken word to art pop to punk in "The Ooz". This leaves fans of King Krule unable to predict what will come next, as he has already elevated his sound so drastically from his first release; a huge achievement for someone so young.
Though the album could've easily been cut down at many parts, that would diminish the general purpose and mood of it. If "The Ooz" wasn't so long, then King Krule wouldn't be able to present the magnificent grand nocturne atmosphere that he does. Furthermore, he wouldn't have the time to grapple with both his psyche and thoughts; needing that long run time to fit in the wide range of genres that go along with this mental safari as well.
All in all, King Krule is at his most polished and grand he ever has been on "The Ooz". Everything that defined him before is back and better than ever, along with numerous new ideals that skyrocket him even further into the stardom that he so desires, both metaphorically and literally.
