Kaki King – Junior

The Atlanta, Georgia finger-style, folk rock, instrumental/shoe-gaze/post-rock artist has been known to strive to be recognized as not just a “good female guitarist”, but more so a good guitarist. In her latest album ‘Junior’, it’s safe to say she’s inching closer to that sort of recognition.

Kaki King’s previous album ‘Dreaming of Revenge’ could be described as mostly slow-rock with largely folk influences, but ‘Junior’ aims to change all that from the very start, as the opening track ‘The Betrayer’ sees Kaki announce, “I have become someone else, someone new.” This indie-fueled opener changes any notion that fans of her previous album(s) would have of a slow, acoustic opening track.

She finds something vital on this album that she has gained universal praise for, and that, is continuity. Indie rock might be the prevailing style of the songs in her new album, but Kaki King still goes back to her exquisite folk/atmospheric rock style in songs like ‘Everything Has An End, Even Sadness’, ‘Sloan Shore’, ‘My Nerves That Committed Suicide’ and the raw, stripped-down album closer ‘Sunnyside’.

It’s on songs like ‘Falling Day’, ‘Death Head’ ‘Communist Friends’ and ‘Hallucinations From My Poisonous German Streets’ that she brings out the guitar-driven rock with infectiousness that can get anyone to sing along with her, even though she’s usually whispering the lyrics on her previous albums. These strong, loud, and surely uncharacteristic songs are what makes ‘Junior’ a stand-out, never-been-done-before album for Kaki King.

Tracks like ‘My Nerves That Committed Suicide’, ‘Spit It Back in My Mouth’ and ‘Falling Day’ are bound to become favourites for first-time listeners and returning fans alike. ‘My Nerves That Committed Suicide’ starts out with a signature Kaki King mellow guitar style, but goes on to progress with drums literally kicking in, and distortion that adds to something reminiscent of Explosions In The Sky.

‘Falling Day’ is most uncharacteristic to be a Kaki King composition, but she still manages to convince you by the end of it, with arena-rock-like tones and repetitive refrains of the song title.

The album closer ‘Sunnyside’, which she describes as being “personal, honest and confessional, but possibly relatable to (by listeners),” is strong, emotionally raw and a perfect closer to a roller coaster of an album that sees exploration of new territories, guitar riffs that stick and vocal styles far from the expected. Lush instrumental sections on ‘Junior’ (that are usually abundant in her previous works) can put a few post-rock bands to shame.

Worn out saying, but Kaki King has done it again, while not worrying too much about losing fans due to the “lets-do-something-we-haven’t-done-before” approach to the album.