Malice K Announces Debut Album ‘Avanti’
Malice K has announced his debut album, ‘Avanti’, set to release on August 23rd via Jagjaguwar. The announcement comes just before his European tour, which kicks off tomorrow in London with a headline show at the Sebright Arms.
Rooted in an acoustic guitar, Malice guides us through an uneasy lullaby that never quite settles into itself: “I think to myself I got the things that I wanted, but I can’t help think there’s something else that I forgot to do.”
Ghosts haunt every corner of Malice K’s debut full-length ‘Avanti’ – the record navigates through chaos and loss with a sharp-toothed fervour. At times howling and unhinged, it layers grunge atop a lush foundation of melodic songwriting reminiscent of the golden-age pop of the ’70s, while at other moments it dissolves into a gentle, wistful haunting. Malice K’s songs are blunt, uncomplicated, and unflinching as he probes the interiority of memories, of mistakes – saturated with an innate intensity that draws you into his gnarled and visceral world, sharp enough to draw blood.
Malice K is a New York-based project led by visual artist and songwriter Alex Konschuh, born and raised in Olympia, Washington. However, it was a period in Los Angeles where he delved further into music-making and became a member of the artist collective DeathProof Inc. This resulted in a pair of introductory EPs (the Deathproof-released ‘Harm or Heck’ in 2020, and the self-released ‘Clean Up on Aisle Heaven’ in 2022).
A trip to New York funded by a potential label followed, which simply led to Malice never leaving. His debut album ‘Avanti’ chronicles the chaos and instability of his first two years in the city, acting as a diary of the turmoil in that period of his life.
Earlier this year, Malice K released the first single from ‘Avanti’, “Radio”, in the same week he graced the cover of NME. The interview highlighted his compelling, honest songwriting and called him “a shapeshifter”, but while he isn’t pinned by one genre, he’s also decisive and intense, more concerned with carving his own path, and building his own world, rather than finding ways to fit into what already exists. Every part of Malice K is distinctly himself – felt even in the visual components, like the “Radio” single tape-and-scissors artwork, the illustrations for the inside of the album packaging, the ‘Avanti’ album cover featuring a sculpture he made in collaboration with Cheeky Ma. From his sweaty high-octane shows to the high-flash high-contrast photos; from his gnarled and unsettling illustrations to the studio recordings that vacillate between grief and tenderness at the drop of a hat, there’s an exceptional ferocity across everything Malice K touches. ‘Avanti’ feels lived in, like peering into an abandoned house through a window smeared with grimy fingerprints, relics of a life well-lived scattered inside – despite being a debut, there’s the sense that Malice K arrived fully realised, imperfections and all.
Tomorrow, Malice K begins his European tour, kicking off with a show at Sebright Arms, London.
The full dates are as follows:
May 15th – London, UK – Sebright Arms
May 16th – Brighton, UK – Great Escape Festival
May 18th – Amsterdam, NL – London Calling Festival
May 21st – Paris, FR – La Hasard Ludique
August 15th-18th – Crickhowell, UK – Green Man Festival
August 28th – September 1st – Dorset, UK – End of the Road Festival
