Kaki King's a rare bird whose musical talents soar far above the earth; her four releases show her to be imaginative, daring and a little bit magical. She graduated from NYU only months after 9/11, something that affected her profoundly as an artist. Between busking in the city's subways and playing at open-mike nights, she developed a serious sound that blended her technical training and her love of Brit shoegazing pop with her admiration for the experimentalism of six-string groundbreaker Michael Hedges and for Preston Reed, known for his finger-picking virtuosity and thumping, percussive guitar approach.
King's recordings include Everybody Loves You and Legs To Make Us Longer, released in 2003 and 2004, both of which are lush, lusty instrumental acoustic efforts. With 2006's …Until We Felt Red, she plugged in, and added more of her own vocals (reminiscent of Juliana Hatfield) and touches of electronica. By this time her reputation as an exceptionally adroit player was spreading, and she lent gusto to Tegan and Sara's The Con, as well as Foo Fighters' Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace. King contributed to the scores of the films August Rush and Into the Wild, the latter of which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score (along with Eddie Vedder and Michael Brook).
Producer Malcolm Burn, known for adding atmosphere and authenticity to projects by similar-minded colleagues Daniel Lanois and Peter Gabriel, challenged King to journey down an adventuresome path with Dreaming Of Revenge, released in the spring of 2008. A mix of incandescent instrumentals and thoughtful songs, the album is slightly more accessible than her previous efforts, but is still delightfully complex.
Provenance: Atlanta, Georgia
Latest Release: Dreaming Of Revenge (2008)
© 2008 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
Kaki King
