PRINTSound Advice: Kaki King
Dreaming of Revenge
Blue Note Records
March 6, 2008 | 12:00 a.m. CST
After the relative upheaval to guitar virtuoso Kaki King’s sound that was 2006’s … Until We Felt Red, the singer-songwriter from New York City seems to have settled down for Dreaming of Revenge. Her previous album took a few too many post-rock cues from its producer, former Tortoise member John McEntire, but here King has finally plucked out a sound that is all her own.
Dreaming of Revenge finds King with a newfound focus on melody and is as close as she’s come to releasing a pop album. Still, things aren’t any more upbeat than on previous affairs; the songs draw heavily on her romantic trials and tribulations. Album closer “2 O’Clock” takes the perspective of a former partner of King’s who was never quite able to understand the darkness rattling around in her head. The vocals, a relatively new addition to her sonic arsenal, feel stronger and more assured than on previous efforts.
That’s not to say that King has abandoned her roots. There is still plenty here for those who have fallen in love with her instrumentals over the years. These tracks have evolved as well, though. “Bone Chaos in the Castle” demonstrates the multi-tracked, fingerpicking goodness that got people to listen to King in the first place, but it also feels more immediately pleasurable than anything that’s come before it.
Vox Rating:
