Kaki King - Junior

I've written about Kaki's previous album Dreaming of Revenge not that long ago. Junior was just released last month and Kaki has been on a supporting tour that I was lucky enough to catch at her stop here in Cleveland at the Beachland Ballroom last week. This was my first time seeing her live, and I came away impressed. After giving Junior a few listens through and considering its role in her live show I had just witnessed I have come to think of it as a nice complimentary piece in her portfolio of music, something that was definitely a pleasant part of her overall performance. She continues to move towards more of the pop-indie genre, adding more songs with vocal parts as opposed to her earlier works witch focused almost solely on guitar. Her live shows, I can imagine, have improved because of this. The ability to mix in a few of her newer and catchier songs with some of the those demonstrating her dazzling guitar mastery from her earlier albums (and still occasionally appear on the newer ones), have gone a long ways to broaden the experience of those in attendance at one of her shows. Having Jordan Perlson (drums) and Dan Brantigan (multiple instruments) on stage helped as well as their play was solid in support of her lead.

So now on to Junior, it follows the direction set by Dreaming of Revenge towards increasing the number of indie songs with vocals and reducing the number of guitar focused instrumentals. In the live format, this is a welcome exchange as I mention above it allows her to draw from a wider variety in picking songs to tour on. On this album it works well, but I have to say, you begin to miss the instrumentals to a degree. Now don't be mistaken in thinking that she went off writing stripped down simple songs, that is not the case, and even within the catchier of songs there are still elements of guitar play that peak into the immense-level of talent within her hands. What I see from this album is a potentially the stepping stone towards a break-out successful combination of her talent at playing the guitar and a developing songwriting skill that may espouse itself in her next album.


Kaki King - "Spit It Back in My Mouth"

I chose this song because the beautiful guitar in the beginning coupled with Kaki's soft voice is an example of what I hope to see develop as she continues her writing development in future albums. I encourage extra attention to these struck notes as the dexterity involved is quite impressive when seen in person, and can sometimes be taken for granted when only listening to a cd or LP. I also enjoyed the simplicity of the song structure, its parts aren't overly complicated, and allows the play to enrich the sound. The drumming here is basic, but does a wonderful job working mostly off of the high-hat, snare, and kick drum, with a focus on the high-hat playing speeding the beat up. Dan Brantigan's contributions on whatever that weird instrument he plays help to form the chorus parts and bring a dance element (along with some of the lyrics) to the song as well.

Junior is available through the record label Rounder Records for about $12 in cd form and $10 for the MP3s. She is also still currently touring in support of this album and those dates can be found here at her website's tour page.