What does Ambre Ciel sound like?

Ethereal, tentative, and tender piano and violin-based singer-songwriter. Perfect for fans of Agnes Obel or Hania Rani.

The review of ‘still, there is the sea’ by Ambre Ciel

Gracefully floating between contemporary classical outlines and beautifully delicate chamber pop is Ambre Ciel. With her debut album ‘still, there is the sea’, she strides across the classical and chamber pop genres, creating her own world for the listeners to bask in. Mixing up lyrics in English and French, the album feels like an elusive mistress offering tendrils of magical dreams just out of reach.

That magical, ethereal world kicks off in beautiful fashion with ‘the sun, the sky’. Methodical, tentative, and careful with its use of pause and volume, it is a true scene-setting track. Ambre Ciel introduces a world that illuminates tiny vocal nuances and small nudges of string motifs. I love how the song takes its time and refuses to be rushed. As a result, it sounds incredibly cinematic. ‘eau miroir’ follows with a gentle gallop in the piano, glassy tuned percussion, warm backing vocals and confident strings. The production for this track has a vintage, in-room tone to it. The piano holds an old European sombreness, and the wind instruments mesh with gentle electronics and confident swells of strings to move the track like a river current. It shimmers, sparkles, and sounds timeless, too.

With two meditative tracks balming the listener in a world that exists in Ambre Ciel’s mind, we are introduced to the instrumental ‘Cycle’. Whilst the piano moves between cycles, its the strings that steal the show. Where the electronic atmospherics begins and the strings end are blurred to such a degree, its hard to pick it apart. Strings become pastel glows and hues. They drift elegantly in some parts, then reach an emotional swell in others. Much like the sea, the instruments come in waves, and so do the melodies. It is incredibly satisfying and fluid to listen to. ‘Atlantis’ follows with a more rigid chamber pop number. As close to a chorus as this album provides, we get some light timpani, cascading bubbles of synths, and an ethereal, more synth-string driven performance. The hushed vocal delivery reminds me a little of a softer Soap&Skin.

With percussion introduced, ‘dream / mirage’ fully embraces it. Stealth and espionage are what hold this artistic piece together. The gentle brushes of hi-hat cymbals, hushed vocals, barely plinking piano ivories, and distant brass colour the first half of the track like a waiting game. It isn’t tense, yet it is captivating, like something is about to unravel. The track transitions into a refined string and brass bloom for the second half. It doesn’t unravel, but its dreamlike quality keeps some chords and motifs slightly tense despite the gentle approach to the performance. This juxtaposition appears repeatedly across the album. I’m reminded of the sea as a character. On the surface, the sea is calm, measured, and inviting. Underneath, there is a foreboding majesty that could overtake you at a moment’s notice. The power is there, as it is with the music, but Ambre Ciel keeps the power well hidden.

Sound design continues to delight as we approach the quirky and toneful ‘sometimes’. This track plays with unusually tuned percussion, rain sounds, and ships at sea. Bongs, plops, and clunks characterise this untethered piece, but again, it is like we are gently rowing through a world running at 0.75x speed. It is a haunting and/or beautiful piece, depending on your mood. That leads us to the most classical piece on the album, ‘pièce no.8’, taking influence from Debussy. Its regal nature calms us down into the delicate, minimalism of ‘fragment of’ to close out the album on a reflective note.

I cannot stress how cinematic ‘still, there is the sea’ sounds. Everything from the intimate recording to the full-bodied yet restrained arrangements to the calm, otherworldly vocals – it is pure cinema. The album tells a cohesive narrative from start to end. It will captivate the hearts and imaginations of chamber pop and contemporary classical fans alike. Whilst sonically different, this album gives me a similar “complete story” feel like Kate Bush’s disc 2 of ‘Aerial’. Ambre Ciel has wielded a more classical approach, but the emotional impact and mood feel the same. One tells a 24-hour cycle of life, the other the story of a wave in the sea of an imaginary world. A world where you’ve grown and can see things from a different perspective. Beautifully introspective.

Recommended track: eau mirror

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