King - Love Song

Music 4 years ago

KING’s first album is rendered in just the right number of brushstrokes; songs like “Carry On” rely heavily on negative space, free of clutter and pretense.

Their competence and earnestness is also reflected in three tracks that reappear from the trio’s 2011 EP, presented here in “extended mixes” that display a half-decade of shrewd tweaks and revisions.

All these fragments coalesce into one synth-led, R&B-heavy, deeply soulful whole. KING work best as impressionists; “Red Eye” sounds like a bout of sleep deprivation mixed with a little desperation and a good bit of sex. The signature song is “The Greatest,” a delightfully off-kilter ode to Muhammad Ali: It’s no wonder Prince spoke so highly of these new Los Angeles royals.