Kaki King - ...Until We Felt Red

Kaki King got her recognition as being a very good female acoustic guitar player. The key word in that sentence, of course and unfortunately, is "female." For Kaki King, whether she would admit it or not, it is a very good thing. Males of similar or better skills have dwindled in obscurity, but the simple matter of gender allows King to stand out. However, the negative flipside is that it becomes easy to pigeon hole her only as a female acoustic guitar player without bothering to take a look at the things she does well.

King's prior two albums, Everybody Loves You and Legs To Make Us Longer, were mostly instrumental acoustic guitar, exciting finger taps and bends or slower musings. With Until We Felt Red Kaki King decided to do two things which drastically change what it means to make a Kaki King album. The first thing she did was to sing on a fair number of the tracks. The next thing was she started using an electric guitar. And not just an electric guitar on a nice, soft setting, but as the track "Until We Felt Red" demonstrates, an electric guitar with the distortion cranked. It is a dark track and wouldn't feel too out of place as an introduction to a Zao album the way it builds on a simple riff into something mean.

The fuzzy distortion, while making appearances, is more of an anomaly than a rule on the album. Most of the playing is more atmospheric, preferring to take the listener on a journey rather than impress through flash. The effect is then something more akin to an indie market album rather than something from a guitar goddess. Her voice helps the indie perception out a lot. It is not what most would consider to be a strong voice like Norah Jones, but is instead airy and pretty like a mixture Over The Rhine and The Innocence Mission, although a lot more unsure sounding.

The vocals have caused a lot of reviewers to react negatively to the album, under the impression that the vocals are weak and should have been eliminated. To my ears the vocals make the album sound nakedly honest. Without the honest factor the vocals bring, the album would sound cold and boring. It wouldn't separate itself from any other instrumental CD in any way. The vocals make it vulnerable and, as a result, rather beautiful.

While I was unimpressed with the electric style of Until We Felt Red, the album shows Kaki King has more in her than just empty flash and bang sleight of hand. In the future I'd love to see an album of acoustic guitar coupled with her new-found singing. The two would blend together quite well. In the meantime, this album serves as a sign for listeners that Kaki King doesn't consider herself a one trick pony. So even though the results of the album are a bit iffy, it left me more of a believer than I was before.