Roshan and Shivani Kumar are living my dream: a well-outfitted home studio in Hawaii, producing their own music in Paradise... Only those who have spent some time in the Hawaiian islands can sense the feeling of that magical place permeating their music. Perhaps this is why this duo uses the word "Cosmic" so often to describe their style. Roshan and Shivani met at a "full moon meditation" for musicians in Malibu, where they gathered under a full moon and "just played" whatever flowed from them. Thus they embarked on a journey that has found them playing many different styles of music in many venues, settling in Hawaii in 1988 and forming their own label, Cosmic Cat Music.

As a CD project documenting this couple's musical journey, "Down 2 Us" succeeds admirably. Not only do the lyrics journal the events and dreams of their lives, but the styles cover the wide range of musical genre that this experienced duo has dealt in over the years. But crafting a CD for the listener is a different focus, and involves choosing musical styles that will work well together for 45 to 70 minutes. The compilation does not need to be a seamless opera, but many listeners I know enjoy putting on a CD for a certain mood. Is this a New Age CD, or is it Latin? Blues or disco or hip-hop or pop? The answer is "Yes!" Happily, two things run like threads throughout this project, giving the recording a consistency of feel: Shivani's vocals, and that unexplainable element that I can only call "spirit," in this case, although Roshan and Shivani never use the term, I definitely would call it the "aloha" spirit of Hawaii. - Steve Vincent-Transoniq Hacker