Tony Cummings reports on the return of eclectic family group THE KATINAS

The Katinas

It's been a difficult few years for The Katinas since Cross Rhythms last caught up with them in 2004. They were dropped by Gotee Records - the label that landed them hit CCM albums like 'The Katinas' (1999), 'Destiny' (2001) and 'Lifestyle' (2002) - in 2006 and the devastation caused by the 2009 earthquake in the band's homeland of Samoa meant they lost friends and loved ones. But now the group - Sam, Joe, James, John and Jesse Katina - have come bouncing back with a new album which features such high profile guests as CeCe Winans and Jeremy Camp. 'Collage' was released last month on the group's own Destiny label. Said the group's John Katina, "The record by far is our favourite studio record that we've done for this point of our career."

Read a review on the Urban Christian News website, "Produced by Dan Needham, Otto Price and The Katinas, 'Collage' features The Katinas' signature catchy hooks and colourful, eclectic sound paired with influences from the brothers' journey these last 21 years." James Katina spoke about 'Collage', "The title couldn't be more fitting because that's what it is - a collection of all the different things we do musically. We've met so many great people along the way and experienced so much together, and that's all reflected in our new songs."

The album contains the pumping dance anthem "Love"; the worshipful "What It's Worth" on which CCM hitmaker Jeremy Camp features heavily; "Love People", a song co-written by their one-time label boss Toby Mac; covers of much recorded worship anthems by Delirious? ("Majesty") and John Mark McMillan ("How He Loves"); a song "La'u Pele Ea" sung in Samoan; and the upbeat "Every Single Bit Of You" complete with a rap from B Reith. Commenting on the album's special guests John Katina said, "Adding new people to the mix helped stretch us out of our musical comfort zones. Since we've been making music together for so long now, we know where each of us is going to go with a song. So working with all these artists was one of those iron-sharpening-iron situations that helps keep things from getting stale."

As well as its reference to the album's guests, 'Collage''s title has another dimension to it, as John explained, "It encompasses the different genres, the different styles if you will, that we group up listening to. Back on the island of Samoa, there was only one radio station, and I'd refer to it as a - just a top 40 station. It played every style of music. Because of that we just gravitated to [good] music. It didn't matter if it was pop or R&B, or hip-hop, or rock or reggae or island. Good music to us is good music. Hopefully you'll find that in 'Collage'."