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King: ‘declare their awesomeness with casual grace’.
‘Casual grace’: King lynchpin Paris Strother, centre, with sister Amber, left, and Anita Bias. Photograph: Alex King
‘Casual grace’: King lynchpin Paris Strother, centre, with sister Amber, left, and Anita Bias. Photograph: Alex King

King: We Are King review – an ambient dream of a debut

This article is more than 8 years old
(King Creative)

You could choose any number of songs from this languid, twinkly debut album to sum up King, an emerging LA soul trio. But it’s simplest to turn straight to The Greatest. From its antique computer game sonics, to its retro-futurist vibe, The Greatest sounds like very little of the genre out there today, unless we’re counting Daft Punk as a soul band. King’s three-way vocals are silken; their harmonies glisten. Moreover, The Greatest is a song in which three African American women – two sisters and a friend – declare their own awesomeness with casual grace.

Granted, the video borrows retro arcade-game graphics that reference boxing and, almost certainly, a previous incumbent of their title, but King’s words exude serene composure, not threat. “Who wants a run with the No 1?” they sing. If any sync agents are reading, The Greatest needs to soundtrack every televised sporting victory, ever, from now on.

Why are they called King? Because they rule. King write and produce their own music, on their own label. Paris Strother is the linchpin, writing, recording and arranging on a series of analogue keyboards; she went to Berklee College of Music and was mentored by Patrice “Forget Me Nots” Rushen. Strother’s twin sister Amber and friend Anita Bias complete the trio with their influences, rhythmic nous and dulcet tones.

Watch the video for King’s The Greatest.

King’s own victory run is a quiet, internet-age fairytale. In 2011 they put some songs up on Soundcloud. Before too long, their squelchy, idiosyncratic, time-capsule sound had gone, if not viral, then straight to all the right ears thanks to Twitter. Questlove, Erykah Badu and Prince declared themselves fans after King’s EP, The Story, came out. Stevie Wonder looms large in King’s sound, but a dreamlike, utopian ambience and psychedelic nuances – “We’re gonna keep on riding till we reach the mothership,” they crooned on The Story – complete the picture of a band out of time.

Prince took King out on tour, and remained interested in their development. The odd song made its way out of the bunker – like King’s heavenly, winsome Fela Kuti cover, Go Slow, included on 2013’s Red Hot + Fela compilation. Time passed.

Two years after it was initially announced, their full-length debut makes good on King’s initial promise. One of their recurrent themes – escape – is the subject of Red Eye, a melodically ambitious confection that marks the distance travelled since the songs made in King’s spare bedroom. “Catch a red-eye,” they croon, celestially, their vocals duelling with Strother’s layered keys, turning the worst flight on the departures board into a hymn to expanded horizons.

Love looms large here too, songs like Supernatural (reworked and extended since the EP version) making like Anita Baker’s Sweet Love, but reassembled on cloud nine by teleportation device. The keyboard is Spiritualized, the percussion is jazz played by moths; they’ve added horns. Every track on We Are King putters and glides by quite smoothly. It’s only gradually you notice how complex this dream state actually is.

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