Malice K – ‘Avanti’ review: a grungy, tender distillation of life’s grit and beauty

23 August, 2024

Malice K

Leading up to his debut album ‘Avanti’, Alex Konschuh – better known as Malice K – had fully embraced life’s chaotic ways. After upping sticks from Los Angeles, the singer-songwriter took a one-way flight to New York in order to focus on his art. He spent the following period in the Big Apple bouncing from party to party, drifting around the parks and subway stations while battling addiction, homelessness and the resulting mental health fallout.

READ MORE: Malice K: the underground NYC shapeshifter is a true original

‘Avanti’ is born from a moment of healing and stillness after that storm, but the trauma from that time looms large across the listen. Just take the opener ‘Halloween’, as a splurting nicotine-tinged yelp gives way to a gritty acoustic anthem. Damaged and haunting, Konschuh’s breathless vocal has all the hallmarks of a cult hero as he gasps atop a grungy sonic palette, immediately pulling you into his dark and curious world.

The album is largely built around Konschuh’s raw, scratchy acoustic guitar which fosters a sense of intimacy as he unpicks the turmoil. One of the more disarming examples of this comes with the ballad ‘Radio’. It’s a piercingly open moment, with brooding ‘Basement On A Hill’-era Elliott Smith strings lurking ominously as he yearns: “I’m trying hard to be someone else / But someone else is already taken.”

‘You’re My Girl’ is decisively less romantic as he channels that emotive energy into murkier territory that nods to his education in dive bars on the Olympia, Washington hardcore scene. A dial-up phone rings in the background as Konshuh draws from his nomadic lifestyle over the ramshackle waltz: “I’ve been around from couch to couch and made the most of what I’ve got / you know it’s not a lot.” On the dreamier ‘Weed’, a similar poetic mischief prevails as he stabs: “My love’s like a hand grenade / might kill us both if I let go tonight.”

It’s a triumph in its own right that Konschuh has pulled together a body of work while navigating such a tricky chapter, but you also get the feeling he couldn’t have made this record without inviting the chaos in. As he previously told NME, he’s just lucky to be here: “Everyone will always ask if I’m excited about what’s happening but I’m just relieved.”

Though the core ingredients largely stay the same throughout, there’s still a gripping unpredictability with every twist and turn on ‘Avanti’ that keeps you magnetised. Effortlessly weaving elements of his hardcore upbringing in the West Coast DIY scene with more classic and fragile approaches to songwriting, this is an open introduction with all the hallmarks of America’s next unlikely star.