It's being touched with a comforting hand as a murmuring voice speaks words into your ear that make you wince. It's a complete stranger looking you in the eye and asking what it is that you love. - Dan Maryon

"       " - Hollow Ear

Remarkable and bold, and, like much great art, on the jagged edge between the mainstream and non-existence. Strangely liberating and encouraging. - Andrew Cronshaw, Folk Roots

Red Hand's power is in emotion, texture and memory. It's not just a sound, it's a place. -- Louis Black , The Austin Chronicle

A one-of-a-kind artist. Delineated by dreams...fired by passion, reflecting Karklins' determination to blaze a trail that is all her own. - Austin American-Statesman

A timelessness that keeps the future and the past firmly in view, while being totally absorbed in the present. What sets Anima Mundi apart from her other work (and the work of everyone else around her) is that while previously she made exciting explorations into music, here she has made a full blown discovery. I always wondered "What is she going to do next?" Now I wonder how she's going to get any better than this. The songwriting is darker, deeper and more mystical. The music is more fully realized, complex and personal. And then there's the band; skilled, creative and adventurous. The heart of the band is bassist Steve Bernal, who can fuse tradition, funk and outright outrageousness into a single phrase, and a phenomenal young drummer, Chris Searles. His skewed sense of timing, his intuitive ability to know where the silences are, and his open approach to unusual sounds and combinations reflects Ingrid's own attitudes and ideas. - CMJ New Music Report

Ingrid Karklins is fire and air. Karklins drives me crazy, she makes me use words that would freeze my blood if I saw them anywhere else. Words like "challenging", "demanding" or "difficult", coupled with "rewarding". Trouble is that they're all appropriate, she's all those things. Darkly brooding, as much haunted as haunting. - Music City Texas Exotic, highly electric (and eclectic) art-rock. Karklins' voice is rich, deep and evocative. - Austin Chronicle A fascinating combination of theater and impressionist sound. She is experimental and surreal. - Zassafras Music News One of the songs here honors the tradition of ancient spirits, and it's clear they have imbued the disc with their approval. The best way to experience this music spooky, it's enthralling, it's not to be missed. - Pioneer Press Passionate, uncompromising music...mysterious and evocative. Anima Mundi is an intimate album; some of the songs sound like private monologues heard over a great distance, which manage to combine instantly appealing hooks with a depth and lushness that rewards repeated listening. Ultimately, it's a record that creates its own category. - Austin Chronicle

Manages to sound not quite like anything you've ever heard. Her album A Darker Passion (Green Linnet) treads a fine line between the earthly and the metaphysical. Mirabella

She's a curiously elusive singer who also seems aware of the music of Laurie Anderson, Sinead O'Connor and Sandy Denny. Those are intriguing reference points by any standard...runs the gamut from arch intellectualizing to absorbing earthiness, always on her own terms. The Boston Globe

Sounds like Clannad collaborating with Peter Gabriel on a dream sequence from a PBS teleplay for "Chaos". The instrumentation is sensual, the mood mercurial. This is neither traditional roots music nor new age; it's sort of Bruno Bettelheim for the ears. Washington Post

Crucial...avant-heaven music. The Nice Paper

She's out there somewhere in a smoky, ethereal realm of her own. Musical performance artistry at its most unique, too intelligent for thud rock mentalities. Highly recommended. Texas Beat

Ingrid Karklins was leading her band Backbone through some edgy, multitextured music that combined soaring, arty vocalizing with down-to-earth worldbeat percussion. Karklins and the band previewed material from her upcoming Red Hand recording, producing unusual but evocative sounds that were ultimately more attuned to alternative sensibilities. Austin American-Statesman

"This set will not contain one iota of Latvian music", Ingrid Karklins announced at the beginning of her SXSW showcase. Never one to take the easy or expected route, she sidestepped more familiar songs from her two previous Green Linnet albums, and instead delivered a set of new material, much of which is slated for inclusion in her upcoming Red Hand disc. The performance, half deep introspection, half pounding intensity, combined jazz and world beat influences in a mix that's hard to define. Karklins' uncompromising music requires (and repays) close attention. Her band Backbone (Steve Bernal on bass, Craig #7 on guitar, and former Twang-Shock-a-Boomer Chris Searles on percussion) seemed telepathically linked, particularly during some beautiful improvised passages. Judging from her showcase, Karklins' new record should be worth hearing. Austin Chronicle

Chris Searles plays some thoughtful yet non-hokey progressive drumming (as well as a bit of exotic percussion) on Ingrid Karklins' Crimson/Kate Bush-like Anima Mundi. Modern Drummer

Ingrid Karklins somersaults out of Austin on a recording that by-passes the standard rock, jazz and classical music genres. Karklins creates an individual sound that is at once mystical-old country-powerhouse-techno. A radical at heart, Karklins draws from many sources to develop a style that is uncommon, mystical and altogether refreshing. Generation Magazine

Her songs cross stylistic and temporal boundaries, mixing European folk styles, the cool, cybernetic modulations of Laurie Anderson, and the shamanistic abandon of late-model Kate Bush with something even darker and more primitive. It's its utter mystery of Karklins' music that first gets to you. Austin Chronicle

Once in a great while, you run across something so rare, honest and utterly original as to defy categorization...an edgy pop sensibility. Tucson Citizen

Beautiful music, far from the beaten path. Texas Beat

Karklins portrays a wide range of musical emotions, from the dark overtones of "Kas Dimd" to the playful "Between Breaths" which is so well-mixed that its cleverly placed pauses actually has the listener subconsciously gasping for breath. Karklins' lush voice, enhanced by her over-dubbed harmonies is relaxed and unimposing. You may not know what the hell she's singing on some tracks, but she sounds really cool singing it. Ink Nineteen

International rhythms, sensual basslines, unconventional sound effects and spirited arrangements make Ingrid Karklins one of the most promising figures in experimental world/pop. CMJ Music Marathon

Her stringy, mongrel folk-rock breathes an acrid, Old World dissonance sometimes heard in music by Bartok or Martinu. Karklins conveys in her sound an elemental, atavistic intensity. Anima Mundi is a ranging and fascinating album -- all the more compelling as it demands that the listener meet Karklins' exceptionally active musical imagination halfway. Riverfront Times

Throughout, in these oblique songs of few words, stark tunes with powerfully austere arrangements, sometimes meaty in sound but never trite of glitzy, there's a very north-European sense of yearning sadness and inexpressible passion. Folk Roots

There is a seamlessness to the way she brings together ancient traditional Latvian music and cutting edge electronic pop. Comparisons to Laurie Anderson and Kate Bush have been prompted by those too lazy to sense the uniqueness of Karklins' music, and she does share with those artists an other-worldly, futurist bent. This need to do something different seems to be the basis of Karklins' personality. With a quick mind, an artist's free-spirited soul, and, thankfully, a sense of humor, Karklins will no doubt continue to use her music as a vehicle to explore the past, the world around her, and the world(s) yet to be seen. Jazziz

In inimitable cross-cultural blend. Karklins' mix of traditional and alternative textures can be unsettling...feature a dense mix of electric and acoustic instruments that is cut through cleanly by Karklins' deep, powerful voice. Dirty Linen

Karklins presents a form of adventurous Art Folk with worldly tentacles. JazzTimes

Ingrid Karklins is a priestess...recalls a time when music was primarily a cultural instrument with ritual meaning. Liesma

Karklins writes and sings a dark and personal music that whispers, spooks and lingers like little else. Village Voice