Meanjin/Brisbane’s Cloud Tangle, the nom de plume of the glorious Amber Ramsay, has just released her third album, with the vinyl through local indie False Peak Records and the cassette courtesy 4000 Records!
Dreaming Again offers us vulnerable themes of personal enlightenment and insight, while also guiding us through dreamy imagery and surrealism through non-literal themes. In relation to past releases, this album steps out of the shade and into the sun. Building further on the sound palette established in recent years, there’s a continuing presence of Juno synthesiser and layered counterpoint melodies in the electric guitar and vocals. The lighter tone on much of the songs correlates with the generally uplifting mood scattered throughout, giving a nice contrast to the darker moments. Various lyrics reflect the artist’s recent interest in philosophy, in relation to the likes of psychology, epistemology, creativity and love.
There’s an appreciation here for the endless spectrum of the human experience, both desired and undesired and how the two co-exist.
The album’s tracks span across many years, with the ‘Dreaming Theme’ and a few other songs being written as early as 2019-2020. The variety of style and instrumentation scattered across this stretch of time lends itself to a unique listening journey, which was largely re-recorded and consolidated in Ramsay’s home studio in 2023-2024.
Cloud Tangle continues the heart of the project as a DIY venture by handling all the production, mixing and performance of the music herself. We see however a much more collaborative approach to the visual end of things for Dreaming Again, such as the album cover and a music video – roles solely filled by Cloud Tangle for past releases.
