This week’s enchanting, dreamlike video accompanies Ambre Ciel’s debut single, ‘the sun, the sky’. Directed by Daniel Halsall, it distils her song’s cinematic atmosphere, subtlety and sensitivity. Capturing its sense of spaciousness, and the vista it stares across at the edge of the sea, with poignant and subtle shifts and sways, portrayed in vivid slow motion.
The single is the opening track from Montreal artists Ambre’s forthcoming album, ‘still, there is the sea’, it masterfully captures moments of calm amongst the chaos of modern life, framed in immersive strings and a solitary piano cycle, it’s a haunting and sound that builds an atmosphere, Ciel’s voice is laid bare, bristling with a humanity, fragility and wistfulness, musing on returning to a familiar place and reflecting on the ways we have changed since we were last there. To Ambre, the song represents “returning to a familiar place, only to find that our perception has shifted, and we’ve changed in some way. The sun and sky serve as metaphors for this dynamic state, evolving with the narrative. The song’s structure mirrors this cyclical journey, embodied by the first four chords on the piano going somewhere, but returning to their original point.”
Ambre is a purveyor of dreamy, expansive, and spacious pop music with a sound that draws inspiration from contemporary classical artists such as Agnes Obel, Patrick Watson, Sufjan Stevens, and Thom Yorke, as well as American minimalists such as Philip Glass and Steve Reich.
On still, there is the sea, Ciel has crafted a beautifully refined ‘pop album’, making space for string arrangements and other acoustic instruments as well as her own beautiful, ethereal voice, singing in both her native French and English. The songs on still, there is the sea aim to offer an escape from what’s going on in the world – the horrors of war and climate change – an attempt to create beauty, offer escapism and engage with the world in a way that is meaningful. “Music is mysterious and powerful,” says Ambre, “it allows you to translate emotions into something emotionally complex and inherently constructive.”
