Luke James
Luke James


CLUNK Magazines chief album review guy and a lover of cats!

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Label: Self-Released

‘Hour Of The Ox’ is the latest album from singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Katie Kim and as the cacophony that opens ‘Mona’ ebbs away, Katie Kim draws you into an intimate world with pulsating synth, sparing drum beat and her beautifully drifting vocals. As the track progresses, Katie adds more lush layers to build the track brick by brick until it is swimming around your head in an intoxicating way.

Throughout ‘Hour Of The Ox’ Katie Kim creates her own corner of the world much the same as PJ Harvey, where the tracks ebb and flow, build and fade and your attention is demanded. ‘Feeding On The Metals’ with its dreamy beat and floating vocals has a dark edge peppered over the top with the simple use of cavernous piano.

‘Gentle Little Bird’ has that slow burning cinematic feel of an artist like Lana Del Rey but with a dark and interesting twist on it that feels unique to Katie Kim. The dichotomy of ‘Golden Circles’ with the twisted sounds and orchestration which is almost an organised chaos and ‘I See Old Joy’ which is a gorgeous sweeping open sky gem displays Katie Kim’s knack for incredible songwriting.

‘Hour Of The Ox’ is a record that is best played in its entirety with your fullest attention. The intricacies that pull you in and the orchestration that washes over you create an album that feels like it’s creating its own little world around you. Though this may be the last album she is writing under the Katie Kim moniker, she has gone out on a high and her name will be remembered for a long time. 


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