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There are ghosts all across AVANTI, the debut album fromMalice K. At points it's howling and unhinged, a grungy layeratop a rich foundation of melodic capital-s Songwriting, but inother moments it dissolves into a gentle, wistful haunting.Malice K's songs are blunt, uncomplicated and unflinching as heprobes the interiority of memories, of mistakes - saturated withan innate intensity that sucks you into his gnarled and visceralworld, so barbed it could draw blood.Malice K is helmed by visual artist and songwriter AlexKonschuh, New York-based but born and raised in Olympia,Washington. Following a stint living in Los Angeles, where hebecame a member of the artist collective Death Proof Inc., a tripto New York resulted in him simply never leaving the city. Aperiod of chaos ensued, Malice K exhausted and unmoored andultimately, unwell.The record is unpredictable across it's 11 songs. The album openswith a jarring scream on InchHalloween,Inch Malice K's breathlessvocals buried beneath a grungy, roving Nineties riff. The trackemanates a manic energy, enveloping. It's a fitting entrypointfor the record, and for the vividness of Malice K. The snarling andobsessive InchYou're My GirlInch has a swaggering paranoia InchI got sohigh I thought my hand touching my hand was your hand.Inch ButAVANTI exists in quieter moments too; InchRadio,Inch with it'sfluttering morose cello, moves at an almost glacial pacecomparatively. The aching wistfulness of InchThe Old HouseInch is analbum stand-out, anchored in an acoustic guitar, an uneasylullaby that never quite settles into itself InchI think to myself I gotthe things that I wanted, but I can't help think there'ssomething else that I forgot to do.InchA recent press interview called Malice K a shapeshifter, but he'snot amorphous in that way. He's decisive and intense, moreconcerned with carving his own path, and building his ownworld. Eve
