Malice K - Avanti

“Now my baby says I’ve got a problem,” screeches Malice K on fraught ‘AVANTI’ opener ‘Halloween’. Laying claim to a tortured artistry right off the bat, on this debut album the NY based visual artist, songwriter and ex-Deathproof Inc. member captures the emotional tumult of a chaotic two years spent in active addiction and subsequent recovery. Where his first two EPs were shaped by short and punchy genre-surfing vignettes, here Malice K settles into a more defined sound, marked by its stark old school simplicity and spiky, lo-fi acoustic grit. Shambling down this well trodden sonic path of slackened ‘90s-esque indie strung together by an uncomplicated, bare-all lyricism, ultimately it is Alex Konschuh’s highly distinctive and vagarious vocal performance that sets it apart and leads the evocative charge. 

Ranging from anti-folk Beck-isms on ‘You’re My Girl’ and ‘Weed’, to grungy Cobain croaks on ‘Concrete Angel’ and breathy smoulders akin to Elliott Smith on slower, more acoustic numbers such as ‘Songs For My Baby’ and ‘Blue Monday’, this East Coast influence – whether intentional or not – is pervasive, perhaps traceable back to his own Washington roots. There are, at times, drawn out moments of weltering, softer-edged cloyingness that can prove challenging, but both the unabashed rawness of the songwriting and the splintery contrasts on ‘AVANTI’ are where Malice K’s artistry really shines through. The shrieks; the harsh croaks; the soul-scraping laments. Though as a whole it might not be as indelible as its predecessors, Malice K is certainly an artist to keep your eye on.