Queen King

Across six albums and two EPs over the last decade, Kaki King has pushed the limits of her instrument and creative expression as she segued between acoustic instrumental music, post-rock, pop and rock. Now, with her newest release, Glow, she comes almost full-circle – the album her first collection of instrumental tracks since 2004's Legs To Make Us Longer – and as King explains, it came after a break during which she has considering whether she even wanted to continue making music.

“I had done my last record, Junior, and I had toured that as a real rock show,” King begins. “And it was really fun and really exciting and really rock and roll and very exhausting. All the things you'd hear about life on the road; and I loved it. And then when I was done, I was pretty done. I was like 'ok, well let's have that experience and move on'.

“And I kind of…” she pauses, “I didn't know what the next step would be. I didn't have a clear path. I didn't have like 'decision!' of exactly what I wanted to do. And I've been doing it for so long, so I… I didn't make any big changes or big sudden moves, I just stepped back and I just played. I didn't think too hard, I let the guitar tell me what to do instead of the other way around. And, you know, the question I put to myself was: 'Do I really want to play guitar forever?'

“This is kind of it, you know, this could be a turning point. If I wanted to do something else with my life, this could be the time and so that was the question. And the answer was Glow. The answer is clearly, this is what I do, this is what I do really well, this is what I love doing. It was really 'does playing guitar have the same meaning for me now that it did when I was 19?' And it does. It has more meaning, actually.”

One of the most interesting aspects on Glow is the incorporation of Ethel, a string quartet from NY. Their involvement was fortunate happenstance and King couldn't be happier to have gotten to work with them. “They're really amazing,” she says. “They came to me and they said, 'Hey, we really like what you do and we'd like to work with you in the future', like in a couple of years. And I was like, well I'm making a record right now, why don't you come and play on it now. The timing couldn't have been better and I was so, so lucky to have them.

“The two tunes that they're featured on are amazing, and the record wouldn't be the same without them. And the cool part is that they were really, really collaborative. I sat down with Ralph Farris, who's the musical director and violist, and we sat on my couch and we jammed. And we worked out the parts for the songs, and we worked out things that most string players don't usually do. Later on, the entire ensemble, myself and Ethel, we all played together – we all worked out the arrangements as a group and so that was sort of a gift: that they were so willing to work with me, and to give their time. I mean, they're all professionals, and to give up their time to make this album so special, it was very, very cool. I was really very honoured.”

Touring may be exhausting, particularly a major rock show like for fifth album Junior, but King still expresses a great enthusiasm for that part of her job. She explains that as her experience has grown, her view on travel has changed. “I love it, but I enjoy it in a very different way, you know. It's interesting, because it's rare that I go somewhere brand new. There are still a lot of new places that I've never been, but I'm very comfortable in the places that I do continue to go back to and so it makes it easier. I don't have to land in a new place and figure out 'where do I go' and 'what do I eat'. I feel more comfortable. And so I think it's just something that I've done for so long that I just know how to take care of myself. But at the same time, it's not brand new, it's not 'Oh my god, we are so fucking lucky that we get to drive 11 hours across Europe to play for 45 minutes.' The magic of that type of stuff has worn off, but the return is that I feel pretty at home wherever I go.”

King is excited by the new album, but for her the biggest news over the last year isn't Glow, it's her marriage to wife Jessica. Over the last few months, King has been a vocal supporter of marriage equality on social media and she says that her personal experience has really driven home the importance of the issue for her. “My marriage… Marriage is legalised in the state where I live and it [becoming legalised] just absolutely changed my life,” she states. “At first you sort of think the obvious like it's the right thing to do, but really what it meant for me was something that I didn't understand at first. I was on this kind of… You know, going from crazy girl to crazy girl and having a lot of fun and having a lot of drama and having a lot of the intensity of that… Because that's what you do when you're young.

“Once I knew that I could get married though – I thought it wouldn't change me, but it absolutely did. Because it wasn't just a word, it was something that really meant a lot and it meant that I would have the respect of, you know, the respect of everyone like 'You got married'. Not like you went to the lawyer and had to sign 5,000 documents. And it changed how I thought about myself and how I thought about my future, and it changed what I was looking for, honestly. And so when I met my wife, I knew that this is who I wanted to marry and that was the future that we were able to talk about. So we asked when we started dating, because it had become an option, and it's absolutely changed everything for me.

“My life is unrecognisable as far as what I thought I would be doing, who I thought I would be with. And so, that's my personal story. I didn't hurt anyone, but as far as contributing to society, I am far more upstanding and just a better person. I'm a better, more capable, more organised, healthier individual, who can really contribute more now than I was before. So that's what happened to me personally [when I got married]. And this happiness that I feel, I cannot really imagine denying that to anyone.”