Single Review: The Gnome King

The delicate ringing of a single piano chord, like the rhythmic tolling of a funeral bell, seems fitting for a song about the potential ending of a relationship … stark in its simplicity, yet beautiful in its tragedy. An ethereal choir of voices are the only other accompaniment for Khailana’s poignant and resolute opening lines, concluding with the single strum of a tremolo-heavy electric guitar. It’s very wild-west and very effective for the song intro, and it brings to my attention that every single piece of instrumentation used in The Gnome King conveys an emotion of itself.

Angelic voices transition the song into the first verse, where the bassline is cleverly syncopated against the lyrical phrasing. Khailana creates tension and incrementally builds the song with sparing use of unusually emotive sounds and enchanting harmonised voices. There is a sound at 0:52 that sounds just like a heart being pierced through with a great shining sword. It’s all quite magical and other-worldly, and quite delightful, at the same time as feeling quite serious.

The second verse picks up the pace as the beat doubles up, such that if I were to be riding bareback on a magical white horse along the beach, we would now be at a canter. The song never fully bursts into a gallop, however, it’s rider holding it restrained and subdued, that big fat tremolo guitar keeping the song anchored in the gravity of the situation.

As The Gnome King rides out to its final closing moments, a big ground-shaking boom begins to strike on the start of each bar. Mirroring the bell-tolling piano of the intro, these booms bring a sense of finality and closure. Judgement has been passed and fate is sealed. Now it is time.

The song closes out with Khailana’s beautiful voice singing the refrain over delicate strings, the angelic voices completing their spell, and everything disappearing in a cloud of swirling smoke.

Khailana releases this, her second single, alongside a beautifully made video clip. It’s clear that she is indeed an Elven Princess with magical qualities, and I’m glad that she has found us here on this Earth, and chosen to share her beautiful music and creativity with us. Thank you!