Ambre Ciel is a composer, violinist, pianist and singer who hails from Montreal and is a purveyor of dreamy, expansive, spacious pop music. Ambre, who sings in both French and English, hails from a family of singers and artists. “I started my journey learning violin at six and began experimenting with pedal effects and looping melodies later on,” says Ciel. University followed with a focus on composition and recording. “That’s when I started exploring composing and songwriting more deeply—both the world of sounds in itself and songs built mostly with layers of violin and voice. It was also during this time that I returned to my ‘first’ instrument, the piano, which opened more harmonic possibilities.”

For Ambre, her debut album, still, there is the sea, represents a beginning, a first and she says imperfect attempt to create this other world that was living in her mind. She has crafted a beautifully refined ‘pop album’ making a lot of space for strings arrangements and other acoustic instruments, as well as her own beautiful voice. “On a personal level, I was searching for silence. I had just finally moved to a quiet apartment in Montreal and for the first time, I had all the time and space to hear silence and create, being solitary and living in the intangible world of possibilities”.

The album’s first single, “the sun, the sky”, is a song about “returning to a familiar place but feeling like our perception has shifted, that we’ve changed, grown in some way,” says Ciel. “The sun and the sky are at the same time metaphors of this dynamic state and constant figures as the narrative around them evolves. The whole structure of the song reflects this cyclical journey, embodied by the first four chords on the piano — they go somewhere but return to their original point, like a sort of paradigm. On a larger scale, the album also starts and ends with this theme of four chords, mirroring a cycle in itself.”

The enigmatic title of the album, still, there is the sea, came to Ambre when she realised that water was a subconscious but recurring theme throughout the album in terms of melodies and lyrics; “eau miroir” refers to how the water can be some kind of mirror, “cycle” embodies a cyclical, perpetual movement, “atlantis” refers to this inward looking quest and distancing from the world, “sometimes” has sounds from rain and storm, and refers to a storm happening inside someone’s thoughts. “The water element can be very thin, fragile, but it’s always in movement and can resemble a larger and massive current, expansive, and I wanted to move between instrumental and song with this fluidity and was interested in finding ways to create something that could still feel cohesive. It also reflects this entire season of solitude and silence, how to me creating music represents this access to an underworld closer to the realm of dreams, that can be deep, surreal, rich and very grounding too.”

The songs and compositions on still, there is the sea also aim to offer a way of coping with what is going on in the world, an escape from the horrors of war and climate change. An attempt to create beauty and hopefully offer escapism and to engage with the world in a way that is meaningful and authentic. “Music is mysterious and powerful,” explains Ciel. “You don’t always know how you feel and then just by improvising at the piano there’s a transfer operating and the opaqueness of your emotions translate in a music that can be as emotionally complex and inherently constructive.”

While still, there is the sea is very much Ambre’s own personal statement and artistic vision as a composer, arranger and producer, Pietro Amato (Bell Orchestre, The Luyas, Patrick Watson, Arcade Fire) offered support and experience (and an extra pair of ears) as co-producer and Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy, Arcade Fire) gave assistance with the orchestral arrangements Ambre wrote for the FAMES Skopje Studio Orchestra conducted by Sasho Tatarchevski. And deeply sensitive musicians such as percussionist Stefan Schneider (Bell Orchestre, The Luyas), clarinettist Guillaume Bourque and a string trio made of Marilou Lepage, Sebastian Gonzalez Mora, and Julien Siino all brought their unique voices to the record.