Karen takes her audience on a conscious journey through music. With passionate lyrics and evocative melodies, from the provocative to the meditative, spanning the genres of Kirtan chanting to socio-political acoustic rock. Hunter's primary instruments are vocals and acoustic guitar, sometimes incorporating rhythmic backing tracks using percussive loops made with ‘found objects’, guitar, voice and violin.
Stylistically Hunter cites her amongst her musical influences Joan Armatrading, Rickie Lee Jones , Laurie Anderson and Patti Smith. Renown as a dynamic and engaging live act, Karen completed a Masters of Music in Composition at Auckland University in 2009, where she taught for several years on the Popular Music Programme and also at MAINZ, (Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand).
Being something of a musical chameleon has seen Hunter evolve throughout her nine solo albums to date. While her origins could be described as ‘funky acoustic folk/rock’, her two most recent solo albums albums Words&Groove (2010) and Rubble (2007) showcase Hunter embracing the improvisational language of jazz.

The band Magic Box Experience was formed as a street performance project with Karen, Marcelo Lopez (Chile) and Yvan Calvingac (France) in 2011. Using costume, face paint, glockenspiel, guitar, Celtic fiddle, djembe and dancing, the trio performed throughout the North Island for six months before travelling to Chile to work on the streets there. MBE wrote, recorded and released 3 experimental albums of poetry, acoustic rock and socio-political commentary as well as one disc of French Celtic tunes between June 2011 and August 2012.

Hunter’s present musical adventure is one of collaborative writing and the formation of Awakening Circus, a collective work between music, poetry and philosophy, an exotic blend of Rock, Neo Classical, Celtic and Kirtan (music for mediation). The songs of Awakening Circus speak of rebuilding a spiritual bridge between people and creation.