Short, Sapphic songstress Kaki King has entered uncharted territory with her fourth full-length album, "Dreaming of Revenge."
The first woman ever to be put on Rolling Stone's 'Guitar Gods' list, King has earned her cred as an excellent musician, but for the first time, her music enters the instrumental-folk genre that straddles the line of straight-up pop music.
Also, King shores up her storytelling.
With 2006's "…Until We Felt Red," King finally moved into the world of singing with her ethereal intonation only buttressing the post-rock categorization she earned with her furious guitar tapping and untraditional chord progressions.
Previously, the storytelling in King's music could only rely on evocative finger picking and visceral but nebulously pronounced lyrics, but now is finally sustained through narrative.
Yes, it is with this album that King evolved true songcraft.
While still largely instrumental, "Dreaming" features distinct, girlish crooning on songs like "Life Being What It Is," "Saving Days In A Frozen Head" and "2 O'Clock".
Also noteworthy is the use of drums that wouldn't be found on previous releases.
The shortening of song lengths has not affected the epic feeling of her songs, thankfully. Clocking in at only three and a half minutes, "So Much For So Little" packs the same punch as some of her works that approached the 10-minute mark.
"Can Anyone Who Has Heard This Music Really Be A Bad Person?" might even be her most epic song yet, finding a cinematic quality through its use of strings.
As her discography has moved distinctly from complex guitar opuses to indie-rock to pop-style song-craft in the past half-decade, it will be interesting to see what King does on subsequent releases.
