Produced by D. James Goodwin, Glow marks a kind of artistic reboot for Kaki King, whose most recent recordings integrated traditional songcraft, additional musicians, and her own vocal stylings, all in pursuit of her tenaciously individualistic sonic vision. Glow returns to her instrumental roots and is accompanied by the string quartet 'Ethel'.
“This is a guitar record,” Kaki says. “This is the sound of a person playing guitar. Whatever additions we made, the fundamental of this record is still one person playing a guitar. That’s who I am.” - Kaki King
Though critically acclaimed, the release of 2010’s band-oriented Junior was followed by a self-described “existential crisis.” Thrown by the unplanned directions her life and music had taken, King was suddenly hesitant of the way forward.
“A lot of life happened between this record and the last one,” she says. “There was a lot of serious doubt, a lot of fear, wondering if I wanted to do this anymore. I didn’t know if being a musician was how it was going to be for me. I’ve been playing guitar since I was 4 years old, I’ve known no other life, so the question became, is this really what I’m going to spend the rest of my life doing?”
“For a long time I wondered, how am I going to have a normal life, how am I going to be an adult, and still write good music,” she says. “The answer came from not worrying about it. I’m just not going to argue with the muse anymore.” - Kaki King
Tune-in to KSUT Friday at noon to hear Glow in its entirety.
