Suzanne Ciani - Lixiviation

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5...according to our Mike on Thu 09 Feb, 2012.

With the whole glut of analogue synth wannabes doing the rounds nowadays, Finders Keepers have done us the favour of compiling, with the cooperation of the artist herself, this sweeping anthology of Suzanne Ciani's electronic creations spanning from 1969 to '85. We've got a mixture of extended private recordings that have never been heard before and more commercial ventures, including a few little TV spots for the likes of Coca-Cola and Atari. The sleeve describes her as “the American Delia Derbyshire of the Atari generation”, which sounds snappy, doesn't it? Of course this doesn't sound an awful lot like our Delia, but the point they're making about her being on the leading edge of her generation still rings true on listening to this album, much of which sounds alarmingly modern, with bright melodies and busy arpeggios vying for your attention and it's clear Ciani has great instincts for pace and tone and melody as well as a playfully experimental approach that make the compositions here so full of life and character and fun. There's some extended pieces recorded purely for her own satisfaction towards the end that include a quite uplifting drone piece called 'Sound Of Wetness', but the majority of the stuff here is quite lively, fresh synth and electronic work that's really stood the test of time.

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•   The American Delia Derbyshire of the Atari generation.

•   With a sonic portfolio that boasts commissions for the Xenon classic pinball machine, the sounds for the Meco Star Wars theme, the Atari TV commercials and the electronic sound effects in the original ‘Stepford Wives’ film (amongst many others), the mutant electronic music CV of Suzanne Ciani is proof that in a 1970s commercial world of boys’ toys, monopolised by a male dominated media industry, a woman’s touch was the essential secret ingredient to successful sonic seduction.

•   Cutting her teeth providing self-initiated electronic music projects for art galleries, experimental film directors, pop record producers and proto-video nasties Suzanne soon located to New York where she quickly became the first point of call for electronic music services in both the underground experimental fields and the commercial advertising worlds alike. Counting names like Vangelis and Harald Bode amongst her close friends Suzanne and her Ciani Musica company became the testing ground for virtually any type of new developments in electronic and computerized music amassing an expansive vault of commercially unexposed electronic experiments which have remained untouched for over 30 years... until now.

•   Suzanne Ciani’s detailed and academic approach to music and electronics, coupled with an impeccable sense of timing and melody (and a good sense of humour), shines throughout this new collection of previously unreleased recordings. ‘Lixiviation’ complies and recontextualises both secret music and commercial experiments of Suzanne Ciani made for microcosmic time slots and never previously documented on vinyl or CD. This is the first sneak peek of the early Ciani metal music and non-pop that later went on see her nominated for multiple Grammy awards for her later achievements which brought synthesiser music to the new age movement.

•   Available for the first time ever on CD and vinyl - this is the first in an ongoing series of Suzanne Ciani releases which will establish her in the consciousness the record buying public in the same way she is revered behind the scenes.

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