Katherine Elizabeth King, best known as Kaki King is the best guitar player and singer-songwriter we ever known from similar artists of her generation. Her innovative style has been featured in the film Into the Wild, and she acted as a hand double for a guitar virtuoso in August Rush. She was also the only woman on Rolling Stone’s list of new guitar gods last year.

King’s latest CD, Dreaming of Revenge, has more of a pop sensibility than her early albums, influenced by her collaboration with rock producer Malcolm Burn.

With this latest record, Kaki King admits she was forced and constantly challenged into becoming a melodist by Malcom Burn, keeping saying, ‘What you’re doing is really interesting. Where is the melody?’ So in writing a song, melody’s kind of the last thing she did, pushing her creativity in new directions.

Coming from primarily all-instrumental beginnings, King has slowly developed her voice over the course of four albums. On 2006’s Until We Felt Red, King said she wanted to become more a part of her songs and began to sing. “I had this super infatuation with shoe-gazing music, like really ethereal-sounding vocals — stuff like Lush or the Cocteau Twins,” King says.

At the time, her studio was set up with sensitive microphones, as well as multiple reverb and delay effects. But on Dreaming of Revenge, she wanted her own natural singing voice to be heard. Because of that, King has found herself writing even more personal lyrics than before.

King’s songs seem to exist between major and minor, happy and sad, reminding us of English writer and singer Morrissey, like the deeply felt tracks as “Pull Me Out Alive,” “Saving Days In A Frozen Head,” “Life Being What It Is,” and “2 O’Clock,” the latter two of which she describes as break-up songs. “The words mean something now,” she says. “They’re actually telling stories.

Definitely Kaki King is a virtuosic guitar player. She’s unique !

Dreaming of Revenge
Kaki King
Original Release Date: March 4, 2008
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Velour Recordings
Buy Album: Click Here

Pull Me Out Alive video - Directed by Doug Karr & Edward Boyce

Making of the Pull Me Out Alive Video - Directed by Doug Karr & Edward Boyce

Playing Pink With Noise - live performance on Later With Jools Holland