6 Feet Beneath The Moon: My Listening Experience at 13 versus 20

Rediscovering artists is one of my most cherished feelings in the world. Maybe you loved the album the first time or maybe you hated it the first time. Regardless, organically stumbling upon an album again after years is the closest thing we have to time traveling. 

When I was 13 years old, well into my emo phase and thriving in my middle school prime, I was a true appreciator for “real music” as I remember phrasing it. My playlists were littered with My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, and Panic! At the Disco. A contrarian down to the bone, my 13-year-old self is the textbook example of what happens when middle school hormones, unjustified anger, and unrestricted access to the internet mixes together into one human-sized concoction. 

I’m going to let you guys in on a little secret: I’m still the same angsty, annoying teen deep down. 

Archie Marshall, commonly known as King Krule, released his first studio album, 6 Feet Beneath The Moon, in 2013 when I was 13 years old. I saw the album all over Tumblr (ew) and I knew that I had to listen. I distinctly remember telling my friends I was busy that day, downloading the album from Youtube onto my iPod Touch, and listening to it during my lunch break. 

Like I said, not much has changed. 

The first time I heard the album I didn’t think it was that remarkable. Probably because I was just a kid struggling to find my sound, and attempting to find what music spoke to me. I wanted to put myself in a box so badly, thinking that I needed to categorize myself to have an identity. 

Eventually, I realized some people just aren’t meant to be in a box. Some people are meant to be fluid and change repeatedly throughout their entire lives. Some people are happy labeling themselves as country lovers, or rock lovers, or indie lovers. I think I’m just a music lover, period.

At that time I was just hearing music, I hadn’t been listening. Along my musical journey, the first time I really listened to an album I was 17 years old. The album that opened my eyes was “Stranger in The Alps” by Phoebe Bridgers. The first time I heard “Motion Sickness” I was in my car, driving from school and I pulled over and restarted the song because it was the best thing I had ever heard. I played it over and over and to this day if I hear the song it takes me back to the first time I ever heard it, back when I was 17 and driving in my car in Malibu, California. 

Since I was a kid I digested every song I came into contact without any shame, preferring to spend the day with headphones instead of being present with my friends and family. I truly lived and continue to live in the fantasy worlds that I create within each album that I collect and each song that speaks to me is its own little universe in my head that I can escape to. I’m sure everyone in The B-Side can understand what I’m saying. 

Fast forward to me at 20, sitting in my first college apartment, stumbling upon 6 Feet Beneath The Moon all over again. Starting with “Easy Easy” and ending with “Bathed in Grey,” I have never felt a little musical universe manifest itself so quickly in my head. 14 songs filled with Krule’s mesmerizing guitar and soothing voice, I fell in love all over again. This isn’t an album review, so I’m going to let you discover this record on your own and build your own musical universe, hand in hand, with King Krule and yours truly. 

But for the record, this album reminded me of why I love music in the first place. The fact that the whole album is one cohesive thought from start to finish, while also being such an eclectic group of sounds ranging from car-chase style music with “A Lizard State” to my favorite King Krule song “Ocean Bed.” As you can tell every album that I find near and dear to my heart, is where an artist pushes the boundaries to find their own fluidity in a world dictated by rigidity.  

I will finish with this, though. Earlier last year I stumbled upon King Krule’s interview with the infamous Narduwar where he finished the interview responding to the question,” Why should people care about King Krule?” Krule responds “You don’t have to care man. I don’t care about a lot. If you like it, you like it, innit? If it sounds good, it sounds good. Come and support the cause if you like the sound, you know?” And I couldn’t have said it better myself. If you like it, you like it. It doesn’t matter how, why, or when you came across art you love. You love it because you love it. Keep finding and making art that makes you fall in love with the world within you. That’s what art is made for: to inspire and connect. So I encourage you to consume art that makes you inspire and connect with your world, in whichever way you please. 

Written by Sravya Gadepalli