Transformation is a natural state of being for Colleen's Cécile Schott, and one that she expresses beautifully and movingly on each of her albums. Over the years, her music has progressed from the loops and samples of her earliest work to the graceful acoustic instrumentation of Captain of None to the cosmic analog synths of A Flame My Love, a Frequency and The Tunnel and the Clearing. Between the latter two albums, Schott's life changed dramatically. She recovered from an illness that often made her too tired to make music, moved to Barcelona, ended her relationship, and spent the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in isolation. Solitude gave her the time to heal and create, and on her seventh album, she takes listeners on a subtle but deep journey of growth and acceptance. As always, Colleen's music is perfectly suited to contemplating life's complexities. She gives The Tunnel and the Clearing a slightly smaller scope than A Flame that magnifies its nuances and draws listeners into its peaks and valleys, but when she sings "Truth/Reveal yourself to me/Do you even exist?" over glimmering synths on "Revelation," it sounds like she's asking the galaxy itself. Looking inward by gazing upward at the stars is a recurring theme in Schott's music, and one she revels in on The Tunnel and the Clearing. She calls on the patron saint of her new home to help her "make it through the tunnel" on the Stereolab-esque "Gazing at Taurus: Santa Eulalia," while "Gazing at Taurus: Night Sky Rumba"'s playful lilt suggests her wish was granted. Though the addition of her vocals on albums from The Weighing of the Heart onward added another eloquent dimension to her music, on much of The Tunnel Schott lets her synths do the talking. A weighty bass conveys the depth and urgency of her feelings on "Implosion-Explosion," the sweeping tones that bring the title track to a close have an almost palpable sense of relief, and the dazzling epiphany of "Hidden in the Current" sparkles with the mysterious ways recovery happens. More than some of her albums, The Tunnel and the Clearing invests listeners emotionally as it unfolds. Since the beginning of her career, Colleen has been searching (it's not for nothing that she called her debut album Everyone Alive Wants Answers), and this questioning, comforting, quietly stunning album reveals the good things that can come out of pain and grief. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi

1		The Crossing
2		Revelation
3		Implosion-Explosion
4		The Tunnel and the Clearing
5		Gazing at Taurus - Santa Eulalia
6		Gazing at Taurus - Night Sky Rumba
7		Hidden in the Current

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