RIYL: Jewel, Sara Bareilles, Sarah McLachlan, Paula Cole
On her solid 2011 debut LP Child in Me, New York City songstress Kiyomi delivers an engaging batch of mostly piano based tracks that dabble in a wide variety of genres while remaining anchored by Kiyomi’s distinctive vocals.
With the help of some stellar studio musicians and her formal training in Classical Voice and Composition, Kiyomi showcases some surprisingly confident songwriting for a debut CD and a high quality sound as well. Her voice, at times recalling pop singer turned “Platinum Hit” co-host Jewel, is certainly a thing to be envied, hitting high notes without any hint of strain and staying solidly on pitch throughout.
If your first sight of Kiyomi is the beautifully rendered (if somewhat reserved) album cover showing her long hair speckled with flowers, you’ll probably be caught off-guard by the powerful album opener and title track “Child in Me”.
The song starts quietly with Kiyomi softly reminiscing over a dreamy piano riff, but the emotion builds steadily. By the second verse, discordant violins sweep in and Kiyomi’s vocals grow more intense as she confesses, “And did I run to you?/ Yes I did/ Seems there’s always a child in me.” The song climaxes with a riveting violin solo and then gently drifts away, leaving the listener shaken, changed, and panting for more.
Elsewhere on the album Kiyomi mixes it up, swapping elegant violin for down-home fiddle on the country flavored “Flustered” and throwing in a few guitar based tracks for good measure. She even finds the time to turn down the lights for the jazzy interlude “Blue Eyes”, where she channels a bit of Norah Jones crooning the lines “There’s something in your blues eyes/ Something in your blue eyes/ I couldn’t run away if I tried.”
All together, Child in Me provides a refreshing introduction to a budding singer songwriter. Moving forward, Kiyomi will likely find herself grappling with the challenge of staying compelling from behind a piano, but the trump card will always be song quality and in that department at least, Kiyomi clearly has plenty of game to spare.
Child In Me can be sampled and purchased through her website kiyomimusic.com, as well as iTunes, cdbaby, and Amazon.
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For More Information Visit:
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Her Official Site ==> http://www.kiyomimusic.com
iTunes.com ==> http://bit.ly/liYvHe
CDBaby.com ==> http://www.cdbaby.com/kiyomi1
Amazon.com ==> http://amzn.com/B0059R1YL8
