Mania Grade: B
Reviewed Format: CD
Artist: Kaki King
Distributor: Red Ink/Epic WK (USA, 2004)
Length: 45:13
Number of tracks: 11

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LEGS TO MAKE US LONGER

I was so impressed by Kaki King's brief performance at last November's Film & TV Music Conference in Los Angeles (see report in my Nov 25, 2004 Soundtrax column, archived elsewhere on this site) that I quickly sought out her recordings. This one, and her first album, 2003's Everbody Loves You, demonstrate King's remarkable proclivity for inventive guitar performances. Both albums are collections of amazing acoustic solo guitar playing this new album adds a few additional instruments to the mix, but it's always Kaki who is center stage. 25-year old Kaki has transformed her background on drums into her guitar style, and combines the two instruments into a new kind of musical statement. She uses the guitar to achieve both rhythmic and percussion elements in her music, her hands flailing, as in the exciting "Playing With Pink Noise," where both hands play multiple notes, roaming among and between the frets and the strings while also rapping the guitar box to provide her own drum beat, playfully interspersed with carefully choreographed strums and string picking. This is music to redefine acoustic guitar: structured progressively, performed impeccably, with always something new found in the next track, or the next bit of chords.

I mentioned when reviewing her Conference performance how cinematic much of Kaki's music felt; the same recognition is found listening to the album. Tracks like the moody opener, "Frame," and the quicker paced "Ingots," and many other tracks sound like they'd be great accompaniment for a film their intimacy and their immediacy of mood and emotion. Like the best film music, Kaki is creating moods and atmospheres most of it exceedingly playful and joyful. "Doing the Wrong Thing" is a wondrous rhythm of fast guitar notation that segues into a slow and introspective monolog over brushed snare drum that gives it a slight jazzy feel. "Solipsist" is a compelling bit of finger picking, while "Can the Gwot Save Us" is a cool duet between acoustic and steel slide guitar that creates quite a sultry and sensuous atmosphere (on her website, Kaki has defined "gwot" as being the acronym for Global War On Terrorism;" the track contains her own subtle political commentary). The charmingly titled "All The Land Slides Birds Have Seen Since The Beginning Of The World" is a progressively intensifying composition for doublefingered guitar that opens into a broad and powerful texture for expansively strummed strings, carrying along its own form of acoustic landslide from which flocks may fly. "My Insect Life," which closes the album, adds a welcome texture to the instrumental mix of acoustic and lap steel guitar Kaki's voice, sonorous through understated, whispered, barely discernable lyrics. (The track includes a hidden track at 5:41 (after about a minute of silence after the end of "Insect Life," a persuasive atmospheric instrumental that contains a neat Asian texture through the subtle inclusion of bells and other ethnic instruments that enhance Kaki's forefront guitar notation very well. The track closes the album in a provocative ambiance of global harmony.

Unlike some "new age"-ish solo guitar artists, Kaki's work is constantly fresh and creative; she occasionally crafts soothing and relaxing atmospheres but more often her music surpasses simple mood music; the tunes on this and here first album are constantly in motion, delineating joy and wonder and propelling the listener somewhere higher than wherever they were before. This is music in motion. Kaki's music, so terrifically performed, contains a myriad of nuances that develop, progress, interweave, and leave a lasting impression. Kaki's unique playing style breezes.

Like her first album, Legs To Make us Longer includes a CD-ROM multimedia track containing a music video of "Playing With Pink Noise."

For more information on the Little Lady with the Long Legs, see: http://www.kakiking.com/

For another excellent article about Kaki, see: http://cityzen.tv/?startPage=%2Fcontent%2F2004_10_19kaki.php