The Bottom Line
Pros
- "... Until We Felt Red"
- "Yellowcake"
- "I Never Said I Love You"
- "You Don't Have to Be Afraid"
Cons
- Some of the vocals.
Description
- More masterful Kaki King guitar work.
- On this effort, Kaki has added her vocals.
- Whimiscal, breathy vocals wander throughout like faeries.
Guide Review - Kaki King - Until We Felt Red
On some of the songs, King's vocalizations seem necessary and understandable. Her lyrics aren't poetry, but they don't have to be. She makes her poetry on her instrument.On other selections, King's voice just seems like an out-of-place caterwauling that comes in out of nowhere in the background and quickly swells to the forefront.
The title track begins like a standard King guitar piece, and, with the aide of heavy metal-caliber drums, eventually whirls into a rock and roll wonderland of creeks and whines from King's intense melodic guitar lines. Then, as quickly as it swelled, the song retracts again, as if confused and slightly embarrassed over its seemingly sudden outburst.
Another highlight is "Yellowcake," which kicks the record off. For this moment, King is a wistful sprite in the background, wandering through rhythm guitar riffs and singing breathily. When the vocals swell early in the song, they almost sound like tiny horns in the distance.
In a recent interview, Kaki told me she wasn't going for anything in particular in adding the lyrics, and that sometimes the songs just called for them. " just let it flow. Sometimes the song would wanna have a little vocal part in there."
Some of the songs sound like they could have maybe done without the vocal part, but others are just fine, vocals included.
