Album Title:   still, there is the sea

Release Date:    6 June 2025, Gondwana Records

“Absolutely breathtaking” (Somewhere Soul)

Ambre Ciel is a composer, violinist, pianist, and singer from Montreal, Canada, and a purveyor of dreamy, expansive, and spacious pop music. Her sound draws inspiration from contemporary classical artists such as Agnes Obel, Patrick Watson, Sufjan Stevens, and Thom Yorke, as well as the impressionist works of Debussy and American minimalists such as Philip Glass and Steve Reich.

Ambre began her musical journey young; she was playing violin at six, then later, began experimenting with pedal effects and looping melodies. It was when studying at university that she started to explore composing and songwriting more deeply, not just the world of sound itself, but songs built with layers of violin and voice. She then returned to her ‘first instrument,’ the piano, opening even more harmonic possibilities.

still, there is the sea is the debut album from Ambre Ciel. Here she 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. For her, it is a beginning and “a first and imperfect attempt” to create this other world that was living in her mind. “I was searching for silence then found the time and space to hear it; being solitary and living in the intangible world of possibilities.”

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 way that is meaningful. “Music is mysterious and powerful” says Ambre, “it allows you to translate emotions into something emotionally complex and inherently constructive.” This resonated with Gondwana Records’ label boss, Matthew Halsall, whose own music offers similar spaces for escape. Ambre, first drawn to the label through the music of now label-mate, Hania Rani, finds Gondwana Records a natural home.

the sun, the sky is the first single to be released on 4 April. As the opening track it perfectly introduces the album’s emotional depth; Ambre’s fragile voice is sublime, accompanied by sweeping strings that create a vast, deeply immersive sound. 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.”

While still, there is the sea is Ambre’s personal statement and artistic vision as a composer, arranger, and producer, co-producer Pietro Amato (Bell Orchestre, The Luyas and French horn player for Patrick Watson and Arcade Fire) provided valuable support and experience. Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy, Arcade Fire) also assisted with orchestral arrangements that Ambre wrote for the FAMES Skopje Studio Orchestra, conducted by Sasho Tatarchevski. Percussionist Stefan Schneider, clarinettist Guillaume Bourque, and a string trio of Marilou Lepage, Sebastian Gonzalez Mora, and Julien Siino also brought their unique voices to the record.

This then is ‘still, there is the sea’ the debut album from Canadian composer and singer Ambre Ciel, at once dreamy, spacious, self-contained, fragile, mysterious, but open and honest and Gondwana Records are delighted to share this gift with the world and invite you to join Ambre on the first steps of her artistic journey.