Reviews

Karmella's Game

The Art Of Distraction

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Review Date: 2006-11-22

The Art of Distraction is Karmella’s Game’s follow up to their 2003 EP What He Doesn’t Know Won’t Hurt Him. The foursome has an energetic sound with synthesizers that bring you back to the 80s (if you were there for them). I would place them as New Wave-Goth-Pop, though they classify themselves as Indie-Pop-Rock.

I have got to say that it is a bit confusing: so energetic and happy sounding, but then you look at the names of the songs and they reflect something else, something darker – and somehow mechanical and foreboding.

Although keyboard player KTO does the lead vocals, the other three members -- drummer Joe O., bassist Mandy K. and guitarist Aaron – sing on all of the songs. It is not often these days that you can use the term four-part harmonies– I took that from their bio – so there you go, they have four-part harmonies! KTO has a beautiful voice, and with the other members adding to it, it’s great.

Also from their bio, they have been compared to The Cars – and I did hear that – but for me, I really want to say that this is what you would get if you took No Doubt and Evanescence and put them in a blender and threw in a keyboard. It’s poppy, but it is dark; KTO’s vocals lean toward sounding like Gwen Stefani at times, but then maybe they’re even like Amy Lee. Again, although poppy and catchy, there are times where the music is more ambient.

The album starts off with “Diversion” and is followed by “Skip the Funeral,” both of which are upbeat and extremely catchy. You know when you go to a show and there are certain songs that just make everyone move in a particular way? You look around the room and you think “Is this a Jazzercise class?” These two songs would definitely illicit that reaction out of an audience. That same vibe continues with “Cyberspace Lip Gloss.”

The songs slow down from that at the mid-way point with “The Lullabye,” a very soft song. It builds back up again after it starts to rock a bit harder with “The Revolution Will be Cybercast,” a return to the poppy-catchiness heard before on “Safely Negative” and “One Phone Call.” The Art of Distraction leaves off with another softer, somewhat slower song, “Symbiosis: The Great Machine.”

For those of you who have read my reviews before, you know that I am usually not one for slower songs. On this album, I found them greatly appreciated. Though there is nothing wrong with the other seven songs on the CD, sometimes you can have too much of a good thing, and you could say that they were starting to sound a bit the same. The two slower songs helped to show that the band can have range. That being said, I think they could try to explore those ranges a bit more in the future – Jazzercise doesn’t live through the ages.

Score: 7.3

- Mistress Kara