Kaki King @ Fly By NightMusician’s Club, Fremantle(21/11/10)

Mon 29th Nov, 2010 in Gig Reviews

Returning to Western Australia for the fifth time Kaki King is no stranger to the Fly By Night Musicians Club in the heart of Fremantle. Performing in the same venue almost a year ago, King is a popular entertainer whose unparalleled technical skill and musical talent attracts the attention of guitar lovers young and old. Since being featured as the youngest, and only female in Rolling Stone magazine’s ‘New Guitar Gods’ back in 2006, King has carved a reputation as being unique at her craft.

Supporting King this evening were the charming local act Goodnight Tiger. Jill Chrisp and Perrin Date performed a delicate set of dark folk and contemporary pop, delivered by a Fender Telecaster electric and an acoustic guitar plus their impressive harmonised vocals. Not long into the forty plus minute set, the pair had the relaxed audience enthralled with their perfectly matched voices and absorbing song-writing talent. Goodnight Tiger did a fine job of setting the mood right direction, featuring tracks from their recent (Rob Agostini produced) self titled EP.

The crowd were still seated on the floor when King entered onto the stage. She made a brief comment about how the laid back onlookers would obviously be ”going crazy” from their reclined arrangement, before she launched into Falling Down taken from her most recent album Junior. It was certainly not appropriate to be sat down for this show and soon into the second song, the audience where up on their feet and making a dash for the front of the stage.

King’s guitar skills are the main attraction of her shows, using both hands on the fret board, hammering on tones, to unconventionally tuned strings, this unique finger-style ‘fanning’ is quite a spectacle to observe. By tapping the body of the guitar to provide percussive rhythmic beats and with the use of a loop pedal, King is able to create complex sound layers that give the impression there is more than just her playing.

In fact King was not alone, to accompany her on drums were Jordan Perlson, while Dan Brantigan predominately played an intriguing looking breath instrument. Upon hearing this device for the first time, it was apparent that there was something very special about this unfamiliar looking mouth piece. Later King would reveal that it was an EVI (Electronic Valve Instrument), which is a rare breath controlled Synthesiser, originally designed for trumpeters, invented in the 1970’s. During instrumental tracks like Everything has an End, Even Sadness and My Nerves that Committed Suicide, The expressive brass sound scapes, sensitive synth tones and deep bass produced by Brantigan’s performance added complimentary backing textures and weight to the songs.

The highlight of the night, along with listening to captivating songs about double lives and espionage, was to stand back and observe King’s unsurpassed talent. Using her custom built and Ovation acoustic, the fret board tapping, riff based finger picking left the onlookers in a state of bewilderment. For the encore, sat alone on the stage with guitar on her lap, King performed an impromptu and improvised slide guitar instrumental track, adding to the many reasons why it was well worth staying out late on a Sunday evening.