Kevin Bronson on September 18th, 2013

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By Molly Bergen

The fiery haired teenager took the stage in front of a sold-out crowd at the Echo on Tuesday night with a grim determination. Not even a flicker of a smile graced his lips. The 19-year-old understood his mission, and it was not going to be easy: Make the notoriously fickle Los Angeles fall in love with him.

• ||| Photos by Carl Pocket

Armed with a powerful gravelly voice that sounded like it came from a lifelong chain-smoker not a fresh-faced kid, London’s Archy Marshall – aka King Krule – King Krule spit, crooned, and snarled through the entirety of his debut album “6 Feet Beneath the Moon” for an enthralled crowd.

Marshall never took his eyes off the back wall, but the crowd was on his side from the first minute, often shushing their noisy neighbors, or squealing in irrepressible joy during a guitar solo, which was kind of odd, considering the overwhelming bummer nature of his material. There wasn’t a single upbeat number among them.

King Krule’s set was just one espresso shot of intensely beautiful sadness – one regret after another, delivered with a tough-guy attitude of “So what?” Which was great for the first half an hour, but after awhile one began to wonder if he had it in him to write another kind of song. We look forward to finding out.

||| Live: King Krule returns to the Echo tonight, supported by Holy Sh*t!