King Rich

CD - T'emotive

Play 90 second soundbite of 'Be Away' @ 'CD quality'

An interesting work this! I'm not at all enamoured with the name or the cover imagery of King Rich languishing in a huge hewn tree 'throne' - just too pretentious for me I'm afraid - especially for an artist who's still quite young!

So what about the album? Well, as there's no credits on the cover for supporting musicians (or, if there are they're not at all obvious!) I'm assuming that the backing is programmed and sampled - that's what it sounds like but I really don't know for sure. Anyway, King Rich's approach is dramatic and powerful - prolific, diverse and original just about sums him up. He has a good voice and an unusual approach. He's an acoustic based songster and opens this six tracker with a fairly laid back affair in 'Be Away'. It's got an incessant banjo riff running continuously behind the guitar and although there are some moody sounding 'strings' behind the chorus', it's simplicity is it's key. Much 'heavier' is track two, 'Echoin' Woods', which comes complete with throbbing percussion and some blood curdling screams. Initially I was slightly worried about a few of the guitar passages with their seemingly 'wrong notes' - it becomes apparent that this is a bit of a trade mark for King - Hmmm interesting!

'Forever And Ever' features more tricky, King Rich, strange guitar work. It's a slowish piece that has a good hook to it. 'Stay The Night' has a great melodeon sounding backdrop and some great little riffs buzzin' around. It's another unusual piece with King's voice reminding me of the great Kevin Ayes here.

'Back Again' uses more of King's unusual melodies and riffs with a slightly 'Americanised' vocal. It's a grower and by half way I was into it's groove. 'Single Woman' is definitely the most unusual piece included here. Simple, haunting and superbly put together. It goes a little further to show the depth and power of his voice and certainly leaves the listener in no doubt that King Rich is a bit different and pretty damn good.

A bonus video of 'Be Away' is included on the CD; it gives a good insight into this unusual young man and his music. Overall, this little package has left me wanting more.

This shortish and entertaining work leaves the listener with no doubt whatsoever that King Rich has all the right tools and all the talent to make quite a name for himself. He now needs to be in the right place at the right time and to bump into that one person who can give him the break he needs and so richly deserves.

Initially I was not really too keen on this work purely because of the name and cover artwork. I really believe that the image is just too contrived! However, I'm glad I persevered because it was worth it. 'T'emotive' is a great little introduction to King Rich and it goes some way to demonstrate that there's something special going on. Yes, I have a few hang up's on name and image etc. but on the whole 'T'emotive' is a very interesting work. I think I'll just press 'play' again!!

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