Kaki King
Legs To Make Us Longer

Kaki King was chosen by director and actor Sean Penn to contribute to the creation of the soundtrack for the film "Into the Wild" alongside Michael Brook and Eddie Vedder. The latter already released two albums: Brook's is titled "Into the Wild, Original Score by Michael Brook," and Vedder's is "Music from the Motion Picture Into the Wild." And Kaki King? Well, there is not much information circulating about how she worked alongside the other two artists and what exactly she composed for the film. The fact is that in some of the evocative scenes of "Into the Wild," we're allowed to hear among others, two beautiful guitar pieces that I personally immediately associated with King. These are "Frame" and "Doing the Wrong Thing" from the album "Legs to Make Us Longer."

"Legs to Make Us Longer" is a 2004 album, the second from the talented artist after breaking the ice with "Everybody Loves You," and a decidedly heterogeneous work compared to the first one. Suffice it to say that this time the acknowledgments include the names of eight musicians who accompanied her during the recordings.

The album opens with "Frame," a sequence of 4 or 5 chords played on an acoustic guitar with a very distinctive sound. The atmosphere created is immediately magical, rarefied, and melancholic; it almost feels like being transported to a parallel dimension, no wonder the piece was chosen for Sean Penn's masterpiece to accompany spectacular images portraying natural landscapes like immense wheat fields lit by the sunset. The piece ends with the initial 3 chords played on the high notes of the guitar; the sound is almost harp-like, reaching the peak of poetry.

Such evocative atmosphere is, however, abruptly and cruelly (perhaps a bit too much...) interrupted by the attack of "Playing With Pink Noise," in the same style as Kewpie Station. Here the guitar is exploited to its fullest both percussively and melodically; the strings (as often happens in Kaki King's pieces) are struck, not picked, and the body of the guitar almost serves as a bongo. The piece, however, also features a beautiful melodic part that doesn’t last long, in the artist's typical style with deep harmonics and seventh and ninth chords. Everything ends almost as it began. "Ingots" is much more interesting; it opens with a beat, probably provoked by Kaki's hand against the body of the acoustic guitar, marking the time to which a drum is later added. The piece has an engaging rhythm and a much more "Rock" character (as far as it is possible to classify Kaki King's music and this album in particular).

"Doing the Wrong Thing" is a gem, perhaps the best piece on the album. For the first time, we hear an electric guitar (naturally not distorted) with a very warm sound presenting the first lazy notes. Initially, it seems to describe a place of quiet where nothing moves; yet the sensation it presents is not one of serenity; there is a veil of melancholy and uncertainty caused by the long pauses of the guitar. Then a brush-played drum appears, marking a fast tempo, and Kaki's guitar engages in repeated arpeggios; the uncertainty turns into restlessness. The piece, with its occasionally dramatic character, conveys a sense of movement, the feeling of a journey, of inner drama.

The next two pieces "Solipsist" and "Neanderthal" are "classics" that bring us back to pieces from the first album like "Carmine St" and "Night After Sidewalk". The novelty appears in "Can the Gwot Save Us?", a slow (very slow) piece played with a pedal steel guitar evoking vague Country atmospheres; particularly relaxing.

Perhaps some professional instrumentalists might notice how the musician in question does not actually have any formal training, no technique shared with other guitarists. Kaki King first approached the instrument as a child, but like often happens with children, she got bored and opted for the drums. However, when several years later an old dusty acoustic guitar of her father's ended up in her hands again, she perhaps realized that no other instrument could better express her talent. She began to play relying solely on the tablatures she read, her ear, and musical imagination; songs from The Beatles, Blur, Elliott Smith, and PJ Harvey, gaining experience by performing seated by a sidewalk or subway in New York. Yet, in pieces like "Lies" or "All the landslides Birds Have Seen Since the Beginning of the World" one would hardly say so. In the first, we can hear an introduction with a truly "classical" touch with progressions and dissonant chords, which precede the main theme in fingerstyle. A truly well-constructed piece, initially solemn and "noble" that later shifts to acquire a melancholic, "pathetic" character, in the musical sense of the term (a recurring melancholy in the album which, however, does not feel repetitive or heavy to listen to). "All the landslides Birds Have Seen Since the Beginning of the World" (a lengthy title for a piece a little over 2 minutes) retains and enhances those elements of seriousness and solemnity heard previously, up to a finale on the edge of "darkness". Minor tonality, virtuosity, and rapid arpeggios that gradually increase in intensity.

"Magazine" is one of the most beautiful and expressive pieces on the album. It initially seems to "calm the waters," but after a start where the guitar literally speaks, creating articulate yet very interesting melodic lines that produce a rather ethereal and fascinating atmosphere, the classic tapping and the typical frenetic strumming reappear showing the most extreme and wild side of the piece.

Finally, "My Insect Life", a sort of romantic ballad and the only sung piece, or rather whispered by Kaki King. A delicate, intimate piece, accompanied by double bass, a very light drum, strings, an overdubbed slide guitar and finally this thin, weak voice which nonetheless arouses a certain interest, a certain mysterious charm. For those with the patience to wait a few minutes after the end of the last track, the ghost track is highly recommended.

In this album, all of this girl's compositional genius stands out, who does not limit herself to showcasing her abilities and virtuosity (as often happens with solo guitarists), but composes music coming directly from the soul. It is communication, the exact role music should have, that is, to influence feelings, provoke emotions in the listener, change moods. It's as if the guitar were a part of the person, so well does she express herself with it. The artistic maturity characterizing this album wouldn't seem to come from such a young artist with such a unique history, yet here is a mature album, full of variety and above all quality.

In short, in my opinion, the best album of the three published so far. The fourth, "Dreaming of Revenge," is eagerly awaited; truly hoping that it does not lose the genuineness and naturalness that have distinguished "Legs to Make us Longer".