LIVE: KING serves up a touch of royalty at U St. Music Hall in Washington DC

photos: Sneakshot Photography

KING, the Los Angeles-based trio of Anita Bias and twin sisters Paris and Amber Strother, brought the house down at U Street Music Hall this past Saturday night. These beautiful ladies possess a smooth vibe, intricate production and harmonic arrangements to create own their very uniquely soulful sound which is so refreshing and soothing to the ears. Paris produces KING’s songs and provides the music via keyboard, while Amber and Anita are the primary singers.

During their performance, Amber reached notes and hit runs that were otherworldly; while Anita’s lower register gave me goose bumps. Together, the ladies left the audience even more in love. DC really came out and showed their support. The ladies were clearly moved at their fans singing along to every word from their popular 3-song EP The Story as well as “Move Love” from their collaboration with Robert Glasper. They also performed quite a few new songs from their forthcoming full-length LP which is slated to come out soon. The crowd was very receptive to these new harmonies and showed their appreciation with loud applause and screams.  The trio could not stop smiling. A nice funky surprise was their live cover of “Computer Love” by Zapp – complete with Paris singing along with the girls using a vocoder just like the late Roger Troutman.

Opening for KING was the local DC group Columbia Nights. This trio’s mostly instrumental set featured smooth, spacey, jazzy mid-tempo grooves, aided on some songs by live female violinist and vocalist Vaughn Octavia.

-Karl Ott

KING’s Setlist:

Supernatural
Love Song (new)
In The Meantime (new)
Red Eye (new)
Hey
Mister Chameleon (latest single)
The Right Way (new)
Computer Love (Zapp cover)
The Story
Native Lands (new)
Move Love