King Krule — the main stage name of musician Archy Marshall — released the single “Seaforth” on April 21. Accompanied by a music video, the single released alongside an announcement of King Krule’s upcoming album, “Space Heavy,” set to release on June 9. Upon the album’s release, King Krule will embark on a brief four-date UK tour, which will take place from June 11-15.
“Seaforth” makes use of the same spaciness, stripped-down production and frolicking lead play common to Marshall’s work as King Krule, though in a more lighthearted manner than one might expect. However, the lyrics retain the same longing qualities that have been prominent through his work.
In a statement, Marshall described the album as influenced by “the space between … haunted by dreams of love, touching a narrative of lost connection, losing people and situations to the guillotine of the universe.”
Marshall dives into these themes as soon as the song begins with, “She’s sleeping… / She speaks in my dreaming / I take her waist within my hands / And when I wake she melts away into the sand.” With the help of simple guitar strums, a laid back drum beat and a meandering piano riff, Marshall sets the stage for the rest of the track. The instrumentation throughout the song is mostly a mix of these three parts, though lead guitar play comes and goes while some woodwinds feature near the end of the track.
As the chorus hits, the song’s rhythm is suspended as the time signature switches to 6/4 beats per measure. The piano riff abruptly stops and the drum play becomes restricted to kicks and hats, except for a snare on the second beat.
Marshall’s lyrics mirror the tension imparted by the instrumentation: “I see you, the same eyes / Reflect the world that falls apart / There’s a fire in my heart.”
The lover established in the first verse, having exhausted her time with Marshall on Earth only to live in his dreams, reflects his past, which Marshall meets with indignation. This tension is resolved with the final lyric of the verse, “Cause this faith is all I have,” explaining Marshall’s “fire” as the instrumental resumes a time signature of 4/4 beats per measure and the instruments resume their verse parts.
Over similar instrumentation as the first verse, the second verse has Marshall delving into the idea of “losing people and situations to the guillotine of the universe.” He sings, “Despite the, the brick walls, the ceilin’ / Up here, I’m freer than the birds / We soar above the broken Earth / The train line in Seaforth.” He uses the metaphor of being freer than the birds to relay the soaring feeling that the privilege, only found in dreams, of meeting his past lover imparts upon him.
Additionally, he defines “Seaforth” not as some sort of sailor’s phrase, but rather the city that exists north of Liverpool, where he lives.
Marshall finishes the verse with the line, “[o]ur love dissolves this universe,” showing that though their love might have been lost in real life, its strength transcends this universe, allowing it to continue to exist in the dreamscape.
After a chorus exactly like its first, the song enters into an extended outro. For its first portion, Marshall repeats the refrain “Baby this faith is all I have,” before introducing the new phrases “[w]e share the dark days between us” and “[t]hey put a heavy space between us.” Here, Marshall further emphasizes that the “fire in [his] heart” is the only thing he has left to give to his lover, as she no longer exists in his present. He then reminisces over what provided him the exigence to love her while mourning the loss of their love — the latter also serving as a reference to the album’s title, “Heavy Space.”
The second portion of the outro is largely instrumental, commencing with the entrance of woodwinds near the end of Marshall’s vocal repetitions. A guitar takes the place of the piano, playing the same riff alongside an extended woodwind note and a different, flute-like instrument sporadically playing trills. Beach ambience, seagulls and waves, play the song out, mirroring references to oceans in Marshall’s prior music and Crosby Beach, located in Seaforth.
“Seaforth” represents the many strides that Archy Marshall has taken musically since debuting in 2011, at 17 years old, with his eponymous extended play. Today, he is a father — his four-year-old daughter, Marina Marshall Patmore, is cited as a co-writer in the track’s credits — and now has the experience that living through one’s 20s and releasing four studio albums brings.
Though fans may rightfully mourn the absence of the melancholy and aggression so prominent throughout his early work, “Seaforth” signifies the more mature, polished lens Marshall will likely work through in “Space Heavy” and continue to develop in the future.
June Min is an Arts & Entertainment Intern for the spring 2023 quarter. He can be reached at junehm@uci.edu.