‘Alone, Omen 3’: the song King Krule used to confront depression
Archy Marshall, under his stage name King Krule, has been unleashing sonic sludge since his 2013 debut, 6 Feet Beneath the Moon. His sound has roots in multiple genres spanning from hip-hop to post-punk and jazz, the combination of which is undercut by the tender growl he’s become known for. His work has genuine grit to it, sifting through internal conflict to explore themes of loneliness, isolation, sex, and romance.
Just as his music is inspired by figures like Billy Bragg and Pixies, a lot of the emotive work put into his albums is informed by his own struggles with mental health. During childhood, Marshall was said to have hated school, which meant his father would physically carry him there to stop him from hiding in his bedroom to avoid it.
That frustration grew when he was tested for several mental health conditions at London’s Maudsley Hospital, as he’s said the counsellors and doctors were consistently wrong regarding his diagnosis. Marshall grew to hate interacting with people and frequently hid away in private until he was accepted to the Brit School, where his creativity was encouraged.
But that isolating period might be why his musical world is so vast and rich. Marshall creates vast soundscapes dripping in reverb and fuzz, bringing an almost other-worldly quality to his songs – it’s escapism that lyrically unpacks a suffocating depression. On Man Alive!, this is covered on ‘Alone, Omen 3’, with the assurance: “The ache and thunder in the storms of your mind, soak it in, for the rain will pass in time, nothing wrong in sinking low.”
Speaking to Q magazine, Marshall explained it was the first song he’d written with mental health sharply in mind. “It was mainly for myself,” he explained. “I was in a good place, and I was looking back on super low points and darkness and admiring it in the sense of how beautiful life can be in terms of its ups and its downs.”
He continued: “If you can survive through periods like that, you know you’ve proved yourself. You build on your character, and you prove to yourself that you’re strong. So I guess it was like a message. Just being like, ‘yo man, it’s alright to feel shit and it won’t last, and you can get out of it.’” This upbeat disposition is reflected in the song’s visuals, directed by friend and filmmaker Jocelyn Anquetil.
Anquetil hones in on the introspection broached on ‘Alone, Omen 3’ by situating Marshall in an entirely mirrored room, having him literally face himself. But it marks a turning point in his work because he’s not really alone in that room. Rather, he’s content engaging with every facet of his inner world, literally facing every side of himself. The music is still heavy and morose, as usual, but the message is uplifting in the face of Marshall’s mental health struggles.
