No female pianist and composer has had the success within instrumental new age music to the levels of Suzanne Ciani. Her artistry is well-documented and her integrity and sincere spirit can be heard in the tracks of her records. Her first CD on earBuzz is "Silver Ship", a 10-track journey that began for the artist in Italy during a trip to see family. The opening track, "For Lise", showcases Ciani's sense of conflict and resolution in her compositional growth. Ciani has an uncanny gift for the value of tension in her music - the modulation and chord progressions move towards light, without revealing the exact color of that light for a period in which time seems to stand still, awaiting the resolution, that does eventually arrive. When it arrives, it arrives with a sweetness of soul that, at least in this particular record, becomes her signature. Track 2, "Wine Dark Sea", incorporates both harmonic-minor movement within a base in western minor support. Ciani employs winds in a manner we hadn't head before, dancing harmonies as oboe and soprano sax take the lead atop of Ciani's perpetual tension-filled and rhythmic progression. Beautiful. Ciani provides a vision of arpeggiation within the track "Eclipse" that could be a lesson in how to build momentum and emotion within an instrumental framework that begins with a foundation of chordal definition. She layers, and layers again, while building dynamically with a touch that, although married to a certain aspect of that arpeggiation, individually paints musical life with forward resolving conviction. Track 7, "Dentecane", hints of soundtrack nuances. The top-line piano melody moves into dramatic chordal building as the oboe glides around the progression gorgeously. The final and title track features the fantasy textured vocal performance of Valerie Wilson. This time, Ciani ventures to her keyboard voicings to support Wilson with the signature blended string and FM-synthesized key timbre that has become a Ciani staple. There's not much to say except that the five-time Grammy nominated artist continues to release hour-long visions of beauty that can only help the human experience.