"So Much For So Little" is a bit of a bore at first, then gets interesting well into the song. "Air And Kilometers" is another highlight, with its odd tempo and layered electric, lap steel and acoustic guitars. At its climax, the track is romantic, dreamy and spacious, with strings that have an almost baroque arrangement, and features other soundscapes that float in and out of hearing space. The hypnotic "Open Mouth" has King using her detuned acoustic as a percussive instrument, then playing along to some well-orchestrated strings. Her country-esque pedal steel guitar licks on "Life Being What It Is" are catchy as well, though the lyrics leave much to be desired.

Other highlights include the first and last songs on the album, "Bone Chaos In The Castle," and "2 O'Clock," respectively. Both have many elements of her trademark guitar techniques, but "2 O'Clock" is the true centerpiece of the album, lyrically and musically. As she, an open lesbian told the music blog Stereogum recently, it's an emotional break-up song, with lyrics coming from the perspective of her ex-girlfriend. King takes the blame for what went wrong, and you can hear the sadness in her voice as she sings the last lyrics to this epic song, where her voice sort of starts to crack. But the best part of this epic track is the emotional fury of her acoustic riffs; she speeds up and down the guitar neck, slaps those power chords, creates some dissonance, builds and releases a lot of tension, all with some chaotic drumming to match. It's quite a journey listening to this song, and one worth repeating many times.

In all, Dreaming Of Revenge has a few unremarkable tracks but is a solid album that Kaki King's fans and other music lovers should enjoy. It's not Kaki King's best, as she has some growth to do lyrically ("2 O'Clock" aside). But King branched out into the indie pop world for a few songs, achieved mostly good results, and didn't abandon her past all that much in the process. She deserves credit for doing this instead of being repetitive and recreating her older records. As to those who may not or do not like the idea of Kaki King going into a poppier direction, may I ask you: Does it really matter if the songs have pop appeal or if they are just plain good? If you think the latter, you'll likely dig this album.

For more info on Kaki King, visit her Myspace page.

Note: On March 4, iTunes issued an exclusive version of Kaki King's Dreaming Of Revenge, which contains the bonus track "I Need A Girl Who Knows How To Read A Map.