Classical New Age music has been enjoying a peak in interest since the turn of the millennium. Its heavy reliance on one of the purest instruments of all — the piano — gives the genre a magical appeal of which artists like Jon Schmidt and Jed Distler have been able to take advantage in a way that is very close to perfection.

It was in 2005 that I heard the American group Shivaree for the first time. One of their most well-known singles, “New Casablanca,” became the song to which I listened the most that year. Well, actually, it was not really the song in itself that haunted me for months, but rather the voice of Ambrosia Parsley. A voice boasting a rare sensuality and smoothness.

We are now in 2011 and members of Shivaree disbanded four years ago. But the voice is still alive and well, and has been embodied in a Canadian singer and songwriter called Adrienne Pierce for a while.