Born in the US to Chinese parents, Han is 26 and already has three previous albums to her name. The hook to this one is, you will have guessed, that her inspiration is drawn from the Sumerian epic poetry of ancient Mesopotamia, specifically about Inanna (the queen of Heaven and Earth), her sister Ereshkigal (dark queen of the Underworld) and her unsuccessful pursuit of Gilgamesh. (You can't receive a press release about such matters without quoting from it).

But the melodious originals are less pretentious than you might expect, and the occasional hints of fusion suggested by a bit of electric keyboard are belied by a straight-ahead feel elsewhere. All the material is credited to Han or drummer/co-producer Wysaske, except for ‘Morning Star’ (the Rodgers Grant piece previously recorded by Hubert Laws) and ‘Desert Air’ (originally a duet by composer Chick Corea and Gary Burton).

The use of bassist Patitucci on most of the tracks and the appearances of tenor Rich Perry (veteran of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra) lend a welcome gravitas to the proceedings.