…Until We Felt Red

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…Until We Felt Red album cover
Album Information
EDITOR'S PICK

Total Tracks: 13   Total Length: 52:31

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J. Edward Keyes

Editor-in-Chief

J. Edward Keyes has been writing about music for nearly 15 years, a fact he occasionally finds terrifying. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, the Village V...more »

04.22.11
Kaki King, …Until We Felt Red
Label: Velour

In the realm of pop music, the label "Queen of the Acoustic Guitar" can actually work against an artist, conjuring images of cold technicality and coffeehouse fret-thumping. Kaki King has lately been saddled with that heavy mantle, but her masterful third record, Until We Felt Red, finds her distinctly uncomfortable with its stigma. Rather than laying out arpeggio after endless arpeggio, King instead indulges in strange and fascinating turns, building tiny, glistening songs out of odd chord progressions and shifting tempos. There's a kind of Cocteau Twins ethereality to Red, and the songs float mysteriously along, as fragile and intricate as snowflakes.

King has a tiny voice, but she uses it to tremendous effect. On "You Don't Have to Be Afraid", its spliced and layered, with King echoing herself over and over and over again. "Jessica" sounds like an early Lush outtake, waves of guitar washing warmly over King's tender murmur. Until We Felt Red recalls the halcyon days of 4AD, when no mood was too moody, no shadow too dark.

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The Sound of Autumn....

TikiMon

Is encapsulated in this late nights and red wine album. Haunting, dark, moody, rain-washed yet uplifting. Masterful fret work and evocatively ethereal vocals - all wood and mist and conjuring dream landscapes. Brilliant stuff deserving of all accolades!

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one of my all-time favorite albums

gglah85

i own four of her (currently) five albums, and this one is by far my favorite. it's the beginning of her sonic exploration, as well as the beginning of her further use of her vocals. this is moody, beautiful work. SEE HER LIVE, she plays her old stuff and new (which is significantly more pop-rock, singer oriented), and she blew me the fuck away.

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Brilliance

MattEightZeroTwo

This was the first Kaki King album I had ever heard. I'm kind of disappointed that it took me so long to discover her. Kaki is fantastic. She isn't really like other artists. Some would say she is a female Andy McKee, but I believe her music holds much more weight. This album is definitely worth the credits.

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ethereal vibes

Roygbiv

first caught my attention when I heard this playing in the background at the gift shop of an art museum in Vienna. Had to hunt it down and it was worth the effort.

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Unique, Beautiful

thinkingclearly

She's has an amazing relationship with the guitar, that's for sure. I've had this album for years and it's still captivating. I just watched 'August Rush' a few weeks ago and immediately noticed her style (probably her playing, too) in the kid's guitar technique.

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Gorgeous

subsomatic

I have fallen in love with Kaki in 10 minutes. Her style is haunting and beautiful. I had to have this album and am SO glad it is on e-music!

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Sleepy genius

LittleBird

This album is slow, gentle and impressive. While it shouldn't be put on at a party of any kind, it's not too thought-provoking, like easy to do homework or fall asleep to. The acoustic guitar is also captivating enough to counter the oddball lyrics and airy vocals.

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Until we felt music...

MUSICGEEK

With all due respect to some previous reviews, this is not an album for those in search of the next big thing. I'm sorry it didn't satisfy your "hummability" requirement. The irony is, the artists like Simon/Garfunkel, Beatles, Eagles with hummability, would probably truly appreciate this album for what it is. This album will be appreciated by those searching for music, specifically, an artist who is trained on an instrument. It's revolutionary to find an album like this especially an artist like this. This album is a gift, not something for gloomy afternoons.

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Beautiful and haunting

georgeM

I didn't think I would care for this album. The few times her voice came up on her previous records, I was not a fan, and usually skipped over those tracks. With this album though she's grown significantly from being just "a girl with a guitar" to a truly fantastic artist.

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Excellent

sanbeiji

I heard about 20 seconds of one of these tracks from a friend and knew I had to have the album. Excellent, unique music.

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They Say All Music Guide

Having established herself on her debut as an important new acoustic guitar voice, and having expanded the sonic palette on her second to include other instrumentation, Kaki King once again rethinks her approach from the ground up on number three. While there is still deft fingerstyle guitar to spare, more of King’s picking is set inside of a greater context — percussion and light orchestration provide new universes for her to explore, and she revels in the experimental possibilities. Much of Until We Felt Red retains the lighter-than-air feel of the first two albums, Everybody Loves You and Legs to Make Us Longer, but King takes greater care here to fill the spaces with often unanticipated sounds and textures. Both electric guitars and electronics in general, and King’s whispery sweet vocal — itself used more for coloring than to make important lyrical statements — also take a front-row seat here. But this is neither a singer/songwriter album nor an attempt to use technology for its own sake. Everything King brings to Until We Felt Red, produced by John McEntire, is in service of the composition, and if that means verging on improvisational jazz, or washing a melody in the quasi-baroque, as she does on “You Don’t Have to Be Afraid,” then so be it. The set-closing “Gay Sons of Lesbian Mothers,” with its thumped bass and slide guitar, veers toward funk with a touch of Nashville tossed in. But those seeking the imaginative, intricate acoustic playing that characterized King’s earlier work need not, well, fret. Every track — notably “Ahuvati,” “First Brain,” “Second Brain,” and the title track — is rich with gleaming guitaristry. What’s different is that King, whose first notices came when she entertained New York subway riders, can no longer be described simply as a guitarist. From here on, she’ll be watched as a complete artist. – Jeff Tamarkin

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