Kaki King – Dreaming of Revenge

Dreaming of Revenge – Kaki King

By Chris Peken

On her fourth album Kaki King has decided on an each way bet; with seven instrumentals and seven vocal tunes Dreaming of Revenge is a slightly schizophrenic album. Of recent times King has become an increasingly sought after musician, of her guitar playing, Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters said: “There are some guitar players that are good and there are some guitarr players that are really fucking good. And then there’s Kaki King,” while Sean Penn sought her out to write for the score for the highly acclaimed Into The Wild. So back on her own project she seems a little torn. On the vocal tracks King displays a sweet voice and a solid pop sensibility, although she lacks the range in her voice that her fingers are able to express through her guitar playing. The album’s final track 2 O’Clock works best for it’s simplicity of lyric and delivery, while it’s finger hammering, drum rolling climax is both satisfying and unpredictable . Elsewhere you can’t help the feeling that the lyrics have been tacked-on to work with the existing music. The instrumentals are another beast entirely. Sonically and in composition King takes command of her surrounds and conveys with more precision her intent. The trippy Air and Kilometers wafts and floats, using her technical and playing expertise to its full capacity, always engaging the listener while allowing us to drift into our own dream world. Kaki King posses so much ability she struggles to know what to do with it, and while Dreaming of Revenge shows us much of what she can do, with a leap of faith and a little adventure sometime soon we shall see a true masterpiece from her.

*** 1/2