Karmina - Backwards into Beauty (CD)

All Music Guide

Beautiful ladies with haunting voices, the duo Karmina's first fulllength release, "Backwards Into Beauty", is a delectable serving of mainstream adultalternative music. The album is a true rare musical gem; the voices of Kelly and Kamille Rudisill harmonizing over this eleven track sampling are a great showing of true acoustic talent. Swaying from rocking uptempo beats to glowing ballads, the girls seamlessly string each tune together like a strand of pearls for an impressive listen. The overall feel of the album is a bit of a throwback to the late sixties and early seventies, reminiscent of Joni Mitchell in a singersongwriter sense of an artist. Five of the eleven tracks are not new however; the duo released an EP entitled "The Kiss" in 2006. The tracks from the EP are the strongest for the most part; "The Kiss", "The Whoa Song", and "Stay" are all fanfavorites where the singing sisters croon over love and loss. There are some new additions that can be highly praised though, such as ...the sentimental "Colorblind" and "Satelites", which act as bookends to the disc. There are no true faults on the album, but some of the songs slush together as many are similar, so when true hits appear (like "The Kiss", one of the strongest alternativeadult pop songs in a long time), they are amplified and other tracks seem feeble in comparison ("Sympathy" is a solid song, but it fails to hold water against some of the biggest beats). Then again, the quality of the songs overall are so strong, that a "feeble" track on this album might be a hit on any other adultalternative album. Overall, the collection is buoyed by strong instrumentals and wellpenned lyrics, while the girls sweet personal sounds serve as icing for the songs. The girls define themselves as strong artists who have a set path ahead of them, similar to Anna Nalick or Delta Goodrem. Therefore, "Backwards Into Beauty" is an exceedingly pleasant pop album that will keep fans and casual listeners enticed with the poise, panache, and finesse of a duo whose presence on adultalternative music is appreciated and should be anticipated for a long time. - Matthew Chisling, All Music Guide Read more Less