An album inspired by gardens.

Gardens? Yes, gardens.

We all know them, most of us have one. We all walk past them when we go outside, so why not make an entire album dedicated to gardens? What a brilliant idea.

And thanks to the variety of gardens, Saphir ended up having a variety of songs. You have gardens of the hanging variety, very rainy English gardens, peaceful and tranquil Chinese gardens and the exotic Arabic gardens. It’s much the same with Saphir. The booklet features wonderfully lush lyrics about said gardens; most of which are in English, but some in Italian and French, and unless you can read them, serve only as pretty looking filler (unless you are a geek and translate them).

Album opener "Azar" is a very exotic, acoustic guitar driven song that would fit perfect in an Arabic garden filled with thinly veiled, dark haired beauties. "The Gentle Sleep" on the other hand, stands out by the piano that one moment sounds frail and fragile, the next bombastic and menacing. Despite the excellent variety of songs and instruments (especially the percussion section is wonderful) there is one thing that holds them all together:

Francesca Nicoli. I think I am in love.

I have heard a dozen people claiming that her voice is what makes this album, another dozen that claims she breaks it, so make sure you give this album a listen before purchasing. I can understand the initial apprehension when hearing a first Ataraxia song; her voice is truly out of this world, almost floating above the gender attributes of man and woman, a unique voice in a league of its own, but if it is not to your liking, it will sound like a hoarse she-male that needs to be put out of its misery. But if it is, oh my... prepare to be enticed, romanticized and all around titillated because this is one sexy voice. (9.5/10)