"Maya Youssef plays Syria's trapezoid-shaped zither called qanun. It is found across the wider region and comes with widespread organological variations and variant spellings ... A series of life-shaping events led to her taking up this instrument more ususally associated with male musicians ... Youssef deploys traditional art and folk music elements here. Notable among these are maqams or a traditional Arabic family of modes akin to raga in the South Asian subcontinent. "Hi-Jazz", for example, is based on maqam "Hijaz" while ""The Sea" is based on an unnamed folk song from the Syrian coast. The ten-minute suite "The Seven Gates of Damascus" figuratively towers over this breathtaking slice of originality. It is the track demanding a return to re-examine and luxuriate in it"