This Is Our Jam: King Krule, “Portrait In Black And Blue”

The voice coming from your speakers is 17-year-old East Londoner Archy Marshall’s, and whether or not you like “Portrait in Black and Blue” will be determined by how you respond to his bellowing, soot-smeared delivery. It's a uniquely strange sounding voice, made even weirder when juxtaposed with how Marshall actually looks: How is that voice coming from this person? Watching Justin Bieber lip sync Tom Waits' “Martha” would cause a similar reaction - the difference is that this is how Marshall really sounds.

“Portrait in Black and Blue” is less of a song, and more of an emotional assault delivered through music. Because it's written by a teenager, it’s no surprise that "Portrait in Black and Blue" is about a girl, but nothing about the song hints at Marshall’s young age. The title is a nod to canonical jazz trumpeter Chet Baker’s “Portrait in Black and White,” one of the great whiskey-drinking arrangments of the 20th century. Re-imagined by King Krule, white turns to blue and the track becomes a whirling dirge of classicist angst and intoxicating atmosphere. It's a story as old as King Krule is young.