Four stars
Niki King sports flowing white robes offset against a starlit sky in publicity shots for the Edinburgh sired singer’s sixth album. If this image suggests some kind of celestial awakening, the record’s title too hints of personal and spiritual transcendence across a self produced set of songs of strength and heartbreak.
Set to a lush backdrop provided by a band with roots in Edinburgh’s criminally unsung after-hours jazz-soul scenes that King emerged from in the 1990s, the album’s twelve cuts show off the light and shade of love, life and everything that goes with it. This makes for an eminently grown up collection that is by turns reflective, mournful and redemptive.
The opening ‘Soul Route’ is a horn-led statement of intent featuring a core of keyboardist Steven Christie, guitarist Aki Remally, double bassist Paul Gilbody and drummer Stuart Brown. ‘Dreamer’ charts the travails of attempting to navigate around a fickle music business in a song that becomes an anthem for persistence on a par with Sade’s ‘When Am I Going to Make a Living.’
All this is wrapped up by a string quartet arranged by Pete Harvey, harps and a horn section. At the record’s heart, however, is King’s voice, which remains rich, impassioned, determined and defiant.
King may be launching the record at Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall this month, but it sounds sired in the late night melting pot of Henry’s Jazz Cellar where she cut her performing teeth. This new opus sits too alongside the recent stream of releases by King’s Edinburgh contemporary and kindred spirit Joseph Malik.
If The Everlasting Energy of Love came out of Memphis or Detroit, it would be rightly hailed as a cosmic masterpiece and garner global acclaim. Close your eyes as you sink into its riches, and make it so.
The Everlasting Energy of Love is released on Soul Route Records on 10thFebruary. Niki King plays the Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh the same night.
The List, February 2024
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