Review: Ambre Ciel is a Montreal-based composer and singer known for her dreamy, spacious soundscapes. Drawing from impressionism, American minimalism and contemporary classical music, her work blends layered violins, piano and ethereal vocals in both English and French so is a sophisticated and stylish sound. Coming from a family of artists, she began with violin at six, later experimenting with pedals, loops and harmonies. Her debut album Still, There is the Sea marks a delicate yet bold entry into her sonic world and is a deeply personal, atmospheric journey shaped by strings, acoustic textures and voice. It's an imperfect beginning, as she calls it, but one brimming with intention and beauty.
Review: Mercury Prize-nominated Portico Quartet are masters of fusing jazz, electronics and downtempo sounds and have been for several years, not least on their 2017 album Art In The Age Of Automation. The same label that put out to then - Mathew Halsall's Gondwana Records - is now reissuing it on limited edition clear vinyl. The album is richly immersive and steeped in ambient beauty and minimalist charm, with plenty of ethereal melodies and cinematic soundscapes that stretch out wide all around you. The detail is densely packed in and the richness of the sound really elevates this album into something quite spectacular.
Review: Ghosts is the third solo album from Polish pianist and composer Hania Rani. It comes after an artist residency in Switzerland in an abandoned sanitarium amongst the mountains so is inspired by the numerous rumoured ghosts that inhabit the hills. Lead singles 'Hello' and 'Dancing with Ghosts' take drastically different approaches, with the former being an electro-ambient take on lounge jazz sensibilities and 'Dancing with Ghosts' being a moody and grumbling duet ballad with Patrick Whatson. The whole album has a lingering sense of finality and creeping doom, but with keys, strings and layered vocals making for a brilliantly atmospheric and moving listen.
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