Back in July, we introduced King’s Evil, the new project led by Sami Martasian of Puppy Problems and JM Dussault of (T-T)b. “The pair, already established as some of Boston‘s most interesting songwriters, imagined a new vehicle for songwriting where the stakes were slightly lower and the scope for invention expanded,” as we wrote. “A place where they might take risks otherwise avoided in their usual work.” Though named for a medieval term for death, their self-titled debut EP looks set to benefit from such a freeing ethos, recorded with a particular focus on the present moment rather than forward planning and undue preparation. “To hear them say it,” as the label describes, “King’s Evil is a project explicitly about the community and solidarity you build in proximity to other artists you admire. Finding energy and freedom in allowing someone else you admire to figuratively root around in your brain.”
After the title track introduced the tone of the EP, King’s Evil are now back with latest single ‘Private Failure’. Like much of the EP, the track is hewn from golden era indie rock, with K Records and Slumberland clear touchstones, as well as Berman, Guided By Voices and The Glands, though to list comparisons is to risk clouding the real triumph of the release. Because King’s Evil is an EP all about recombination, taking the sensibilities of its two principle songwriters and the acts which have come to inform them and assembling the constituent parts into something new. On ‘Private Failure’, the result is a succinct yet potent confession, a song which does not lack energy but seems to linger in the same space, like a message delivered from a chopper hovering low over your old house.
Art by Sami Martasian, layout by J Kimball