Avanti

Description

Ghosts are present everywhere in Avanti, the debut album by Malice K. At times in a screaming and unbalanced way, a grunge layer over a lush foundation of melodic songwriting, but at other moments, all of this dissolves into a sweet and melancholic haunting. Malice K's songs are direct, simple, and unwavering as he probes the interiority of memories and mistakes. Malice K is the alias of visual artist and songwriter Alex Konschuh, who lives in New York but was born and raised in Olympia, Washington. The album is unpredictable across its 11 tracks. It opens with a piercing scream on “Halloween,” Malice K's breathless voice buried under a 90s grunge riff. But Avanti also exists in its quieter moments; “Radio,” with its morose and floating cello, moves at an almost glacial pace. The painful nostalgia of “The Old House” is a hallmark of the album, anchored by an acoustic guitar, a restless lullaby that never quite settles. A recent interview with the press described Malice K as a shapeshifter, but he is not formless. He is determined and intense, more concerned with carving his own path and building his own world.