South London's Archy "King Krule" Marshall is one of those artists who must be seen live – just to appreciate the jarring contrast between his childlike appearance and his wizened voice. Soberingly for anyone old enough to remember the 90s, he was born in 1994, and his pallid scrawniness makes him look closer to 14. But his voice is deep, resonant, prematurely rusty; only his subject-matter – teenage heartbreak and the moodswings that go with it – and his mumbled introductions remind you of his actual age.
Longlisted in the BBC Sound of 2013 poll, Marshall has been groomed for indie stardom for several years. His set is packed with the right influences: Baby Blue evokes the xx's noirish use of space; Has This Hit's tale of losing the girl and ending up on the dole has the urban-romantic lyricism of the Streets; later, his spoken intro to The Krockadile has the whiff of the beat poet about it. He clearly knows his way around a guitar, too, extracting a Johnny Marrish, reverb-laden jangle. The icing on the cake is that his talent is counterbalanced by irresistible social awkwardness.
Marshall mutters and shuffles when he speaks, and sometimes sings that way, too. If Kevin the Teenager were to have a crack at music, this is what his gig would be like: between songs, Marshall stares at the floor and emits a few sullen, unco-operative syllables. Clearly overwhelmed, a girl shouts: "Sexy boy!" In response, Marshall leads into a disjointed, dubby Ocean Bed. The song quotes the Auden poem Victor, suggesting he's not quite as Kevinish as he'd like to believe. Probably best not tell him that, though.
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