Performer Notes

Personnel: Kaki King (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Dan Brantigan (horns, piano, keyboards); Malcolm Burn (piano); Jordan Perlson (drums).
Audio Mixer: Malcolm Burn.
Recording information: Kingston, NY (2009).
Photographer: Gregg Delman.
On her fifth full-length, guitar heroine Kaki King re-teams with producer Malcolm Burn and employs a rhythm section that includes multi-instrumentalist Dan Brantigan and drummer Jordan Perlson. That said, this is no mere power trio recording with an uber-guitarist fronting bass and drums. Like 2008's Dreaming of Revenge, Junior is a songwriter's record, layered in textures and moods, with Burn's warm production and her band helping to guide a complex, searingly emotional vision. The mood of the recording is dark, even angry, though there are certain themes of political intrigue amid personal turmoil. "The Betrayer" (one of the real rockers on the set) confesses first-person selling out another. It's followed by its mirror image in "Spit It Back in My Mouth," which reveals a sense of personal betrayal. King uses her electric guitar more than she does her acoustic, played in her singular style that employs lead and rhythm at the same time. There are three instrumentals here, too: the meditative, atmospheric "Everything Has an End, Even in Sadness" that just bleeds warmth and melancholy; "My Nerves That Committed Suicide" begins as a moody acoustic guitar ballad yet builds itself into a dramatic, electrifying crescendo with help from Brantigan's array of horns and keys; and "Sloan Shore," near the album's end, presents King's sophisticated guitar playing in a multi-layered, melodic, drifting ballad that is accented by a Hammond organ that holds the cut in place as her harmonic changes shift all over the place. It's among the most haunting and beautiful things here. "Death Head" evolves into a metallic rocker, with King's flat, quavering voice nearly barking out her lyrics. Here she allows her guitar wizardry to pull ahead of her rhythm section. The closer, an acoustic ballad called "Sunnyside," is anything but emotional. The biggest drawback, one that can make the listener tire of the album long before it ends, is her terminally flat, undisciplined voice. More often than not, her compelling song structures suffer because of it. Ultimately, Junior feels more like a band record and furthers the sounds explored on Dreaming of Revenge. [ There is also a special edition of Junior that comes with a DVD, containing a 40-minute solo instrumental acoustic concert at the Berkeley Church in Toronto (which is musically stunning) and five music videos shot by different directors.] ~ Thom Jurek

Professional Reviews

Spin (p.88) - "King sounds wholly at home commanding an indie-rock power trio."

Alternative Press - "Their most impressive traits respectively improve in some regard, from their relentless energy and vocal dynamics to tempo changes and willingness to abandon standard structures."

Mojo (Publisher) (p.99) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "King's voice, whether riding roughshod over her band's new found bravura arrangements or playing the smoky chanteuse, is still a decisive instrument of its own."

Album: Junior [Digipak]
#	Song Title		Time
1)	The Betrayer	More Info...
2)	Spit It Back In My Mouth	More Info...
3)	Everything Has an End, Even Sadness	More Info...
4)	Falling Day	More Info...
5)	The Hoopers of Hudspeth	More Info...
6)	My Nerves That Committed Suicide	More Info...
7)	Communist Friends	More Info...
8)	Hallucinations From My Poisonous German Streets	More Info...
9)	Dead Head	More Info...
10)	Sloan Shore	More Info...
11)	Sunnyside	More Info...

Album: Junior [Digipak]
#	Song Title		Time
1)	The Betrayer	More Info...
2)	Spit It Back In My Mouth	More Info...
3)	Everything Has an End, Even Sadness	More Info...
4)	Falling Day	More Info...
5)	The Hoopers of Hudspeth	More Info...
6)	My Nerves That Committed Suicide	More Info...
7)	Communist Friends	More Info...
8)	Hallucinations From My Poisonous German Streets	More Info...
9)	Dead Head	More Info...
10)	Sloan Shore	More Info...
11)	Sunnyside	More Info...