<p><span><span><span>- The prolifically moody </span><strong>Amber Ramsay</strong><span> is back with the latest release from her Cloud Tangle project. Releasing about a record a year, there have been plenty of opportunities to get familiar with the Brisbane-based, one-woman-band and, even with so many outings, Ramsay is not interested in major artistic departures, more than she's fine-tuning the slow-burning melancholy of her sound. Sadness is like an addiction she keeps returning to and -to paraphrase her- she’s sinking ever deeper into the feeling. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>I’ve sometimes felt that Cloud Tangle is less about writing songs and more about creating a musical landscape, in record form. </span><em>Swells </em><span>bears out this notion, playing like a soundtrack in which actual songs occasionally rise to the surface. If it is a score, it’s very Lynchian and, especially since Ramsay has abandoned her guitar this time round, it’s hard not to recall </span><strong>Angelo Badalamenti</strong><span>’s </span><em>Twin Peaks </em><span>synth-work when listening to it, with Ramsay’s vocals whispering in every now and then, like an infinitely sadder </span><strong>Julee Cruise</strong><span>. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>In the world of alternative music, Cloud Tangle stands in pretty good stead amongst a constellation of influences, from the ambient-art-pop of </span><strong>Grouper</strong><span> to the minimally stylish sound of </span><strong>HTRK </strong><span>or the medicated end of indie with folks like </span><strong>Hope Sandoval </strong><span>or </span><strong>Weyes Blood</strong><span>. Ramsay speaks of </span><strong>Thom Yorke </strong><span>as a strong influence and, sure, all of these are in the ballpark. I think there’s a lot of musicians out there that sound a bit like Cloud Tangle, but Ramsay wends her own way through that canon and, increasingly, can step to all other comers.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>Even without her guitar, the single evolving element within Cloud Tangle that stands out the most is the production, which is, on this record, wholly Ramsay’s own work. Even as recently as 2019, it sounded like she was playing into mic.s in the next room - but it doesn’t sound lofi any more. This is especially notable because, unlike some of her other releases, <em>Swells </em>was cobbled together in Ramsay's bedroom. It could just be the result of better craftsmanship, more expensive tools, but it sounds like a stylistic choice: letting go of some of the ghostly, ethereal qualities of the Cloud Tangle oeuvre</span><strong> </strong><span>and stepping closer, like the spectre gliding out of the shadows and into alarming focus.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>“</span><em>I can’t bear to face that sinking feeling</em><span>” moans Ramsay, drowned in sadness, but also, somehow, welcoming it. She welcomes us too: the outline of Cloud Tangle’s world becoming clearer, drawing us in. We follow the gently rolling synth topography, over which, every now and then, her voice lilts, hauntingly. Sorrowful but seductive, she becomes clearer, not a hazy apparition enveloping its victims, but a siren, pulling her listeners onto the rocks of emotional destruction. WIth a new confidence, </span><em>Swells </em><span>is calling to us all.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>- Chris Cobcroft.</span></span></span></p>
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2198193113/size=large/bgcol=f…; seamless><a href="https://4000records.bandcamp.com/album/swells">Swells by Cloud Tangle</a></iframe>