Kaki King
The musician combines sound and visuals for her ambitious show, The Neck is a Bridge to the Body.
The captivating and wideranging sounds coaxed from Kaki King’s lone guitar have confirmed her place at the forefront of a field alongside revered finger-style players like Leo Kottke and modern virtuosos including Andy McKee.
The forward-thinking artist visits Lincoln Hall next Wednesday with an ambitious show called “The Neck is a Bridge to the Body.” King promises a unique visual element that offers insight into the intimate relationship with her instrument.
King’s signature Ovation Adamas acoustic guitar will serve as both a visual and audible canvas for songs that explore the nature and potential of both instrument and player. The complexity of the show’s visual element grows alongside its sound. Initially, black and white images are projected onto King’s customized white guitar, accompanied by percussion on its surface. “The front of the show is about creation,” says King. “The first note that you hear is the first color that you see.”
“It’s not just images and music,” says King. “It’s a well thought-out script, with a beginning, deconstruction, antagonism and resolution. On the most basic level, it’s an homage to the guitar and my relationship with it. It’s very cathartic.”
Watery ripples, lines of electricity, mosaic tiles, and showering sparks trace across the face of the guitar during “The Surface Changes,” as King herself recedes into the blackness behind her instrument. The guitar becomes the central character in a journey and search for identity. King named one key piece, “We Did Not Make the Instrument, the Instrument Made Us.”
What has the guitar has taught King about herself? “I think it’s say- ing that my life is an open door,” she says. “Step through it, and you’ll find another.”
A soundtrack album to the showis due later this year.
For now, King offers “Everybody Glows.” Released in November, the album collects previously unreleased live performances, studio-recorded b-sides, and covers spanning an array of styles. The live cuts “Meserole” and “Goby” feature tightly knit bands. The furious bluegrass picking during solo piece “Sunrise At Wildflower Hill Retirement Center” suggests morning with some particularly spry octogenarians.
The intricate “Zamzam Well” will remind listeners of King’s musical kinship to late finger-style maverick Michael Hedges, blended with wellhoned jazz sensibility. Despite mystifying skill, King doesn’t consider herself a master. “My life has been shaped by the guitar,” she says. “I’m still a student. I’m still teasing out its magic and what it can do.”
Kaki King, 8 p.m. Feb. 11, Lincoln Hall, 2424 N Lincoln, Tickets $25 (ages 21+), (773) 525-2501; lincolnhallchicago.com. SPOTIFY playlist: http://tinyurl.com/KakiSPOT