Legs To Make Us Longer [Enhanced]

This was exactly the album Kaki King needed to make after her impressive but shapeless debut, Everybody Loves You.

On this record, her major-label debut, Kaki King has retained most of her wild experimentations but refined it with melodic and rhythmic progressions that actually take you to different places rather than aimlessly noodling. And this was exactly what her music needed. Now her compositions create moods and paces, colours and feelings, while her ear-grabbing techniques help to keep things fresh. Witness Solipsist, which sonically and instrumentally sounds a lot like the songs from her debut. But this time, the music moves forward and makes variations, rather than repeat a rhythmic motif (as most of the material did on Everybody Loves You).

Several of the tracks here remind me of Joe Satriani in a good way, in terms of their rock-based rhythms and melodies, and King's chordal harmonies have gotten lusher and more interesting, jazzier yet more engaging, with much better recording to back it up. "Ingots" is my favourite track, opening on a galloping tapped beat with the acoustic guitar entering with mysterious accents, followed by a propelling octave melody and then a nervous, almost unhinged melody based on string slides, ending on a crescendo, building in intensity as no other King track has ever done. The New Age "All the Landslides Birds Have Seen Since the Beginning of the World" is lovely and sparse, dispensing with King's signature rhythmic tricks (again, a great sign of growth, adapting techniques to songs rather than the other way around), and King even attempts to sing on "My Insect Life". Her vocals are really nothing to write home about, being breathy and thin, but just because her main tool is her guitar doesn't mean she shouldn't explore her other dimensions. Even Eric Johnson sings occasionally on his songs, and if it helps convey different layers in the music, all the better.

I see the detractors to King's style and this record, and I understand some of their points. But I'll also say that I love this record, and if you've read enough of my reviews, you know I'm not exactly merciful if I don't like something. To me, this record is a gem, the coming of age of an artist who is fulfilling her potential.

It's kinda scary how much some people really, really hate this CD, saying Kaki King ripped off Hedges and Reed. Well, first off, she studied with Preston Reed and has his blessing "while I steal his best licks," and in an interview in acoustic guitar magazine, she even says that she sounds like Hedges and Reed right now but hopes to develop her own sound over the rest of her life. God, she's 25, if she doesn't have room to grow, what's she gonna do? Anyhoo, I enjoy this record. Alot. Her technique may not be new, but her sense of melody is quite stellar, as is her songwriting. Her note choices convey emotion and image. It is a real feat when one can write a song and tell a story, and not have any words to it. Her playing can be quite frenetic, especially on "magazine," or quite laid back, like on "My insect life," the perfect track to fall asleep to at night. Her strongest songs fall somewhere in between, like "Playing with Pink noise" and "Doing the Wrong Thing," though my personal track is "Ingots," a mid-tempo song you can just put on repeat and enjoy. A few songs seem to be lack luster and too long, but thankfully that doesn't make up most of the album. On a whole, this CD is great, it is a step up from the somewhat undefined "Everybody Loves You." She seems to be starting to develop her own voice and sense of melody, and she's so young, by the time she's as old as Preston Reed is now, I'm sure we can expect something amazing.

Listen to the clips on this site - if you like what you hear, buy this CD. If you don't like what you hear simply because she isn't the late great Michael Hedges, then I'm sorry. You're missing out on some really great music just because it isn't as good as music from the guy that INVENTED THE GENRE OF MUSIC.

I really don't understand the frantic name calling and out right stupidity of a lot of these reviews. This album, like the last, is good for what it is. Strong playing, not randomly beating by any means (come on now), and some good writing skills. Production is good and the sound reflects that.

For those that claim she is not the greatest, at this point in time, this is true. Does that mean this albums is weak, no. Every musician has a generation point, whether they sound like Hedges, Bird, Mozart, Trane, Dylan, Difranco, Radiohead, etc. The beautiful thing is that you can hear these musicians evolve into their own voices through their own work. I am 25 now, and god I hope I haven't figured everything out on my own instrument by now, much less to say that I won't develop as a writer either. How disappointing would that be?

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