Kiva

Pulse (2004)

Kiva is the performing name of Kathy Brown, a multi-faceted instrumentalist who's probably best known for her work as touring keyboardist with Crash Test Dummies. But that experience barely scratched the surface of this woman's wellspring of influences and talents. Kiva is an overtone singer, capable of producing two pitches at once- the sort of thing heard at Folk Festivals as performed by the Tuvan throat singers. She's also a multi-instrumentalist of impressive skill and a writer capable of moulding all her interests- from jazz to world beat to pop to folk to classical- into a seamless whole.

Pulse is Kiva's second album and certainly her most fully realized, creating a polyrhythmic, multi-syllabic world in which melody and rhythm become one and compositions (for these are not 'songs' in the pop sense) are ethereal, magical, guttural and entrancing all at once. With Dan Donahue producing and the likes of Rhys Fulber, Nii Tettey Tetteh, Richard Moody, Rodrigo Muñoz and Bill Spornitz guesting, this is a gathering of pure sonic creators- all held together by Kiva's inimitable spirit. (http://www.kivaweb.com).

Rating : A

Reviewer: John Kendle, Uptown Magazine, Winnipeg, MB, Canada