Naomi’s journey became the lyrical foundation for each of these six songs.
Another Sky released their latest body of work, an EP entitled Music For Winter Vol. I. The EP follows their debut full-length I Slept on The Floor, released earlier this year via Fiction / Missing Piece Records. "Winter is the perfect time for sombre music," says Catrin Vincent, vocalist and lyricist of Another Sky. "some songs are old, some are new, all are entirely collaborative. After being kept apart because of the lockdown and writing a bunch of our second album separately, we just wanted to get back into our studio and record."
Having confidently stepped into the spotlight with their performance of "Chillers" on 'Later... with Jools Holland,' Another Sky has earned praise from Paste, Under the Radar, The FADER, and NPR Music, who invited them in for a Tiny Desk Concert earlier this year. Frontwoman Catrin wryly credits some of their early success to the fact her distinctive, haunting vocals are frequently mistaken for those of a male singer. "People say I sound like a man - maybe that means they'll listen."
"Where do we find our portable paradises?" - Catrin found herself staring at this very poem by Roger Robinson on the London Underground in March 2020. For the first time in six years, the band couldn't see each other, and the band's bassist Naomi was able to sit still long enough to confront her intense fear of going to hell for being in a same-sex relationship, due to a Christian upbringing.Catrin explains, "After lockdown eased, myself and Naomi revisited the opening track 'Pieces,' an old track originally sung by Naomi. We wrote lyrics together from an imagined conversation with a loved one telling Naomi she was going to hell."
Naomi's journey became the lyrical foundation for each of these six songs as Catrin drew universal comparisons with others' lives; "a struggle with identity, walking past churches you are no longer part of and the person you become when you are in pain. If there is no end in sight of struggle, where are our white sands, green hills and fresh fish? If we can't ever truly escape, which is what we were exploring in our debut album I Slept On The Floor, can we carry paradise in ourselves?" Naomi adds about her experience, "It's so easy to push things to the back of your mind. You never really know the impact this has on you until it becomes overbearing, and you're forced to address it. I found it incredibly cathartic to tackle these issues head-on by visualising certain situations and being able to say whatever I needed to say, both in therapy and in writing music."The band are currently recording their second full-length album which is anticipated to drop in 2021. Music For Winter Vol. II is also set to be released next winter.
Another Sky's debut album I Slept On The Floor proved to the world just how vital the words of lyricist and vocalist Catrin Vincent truly are. Her poetic rage has been titular in Another Sky's story, grappling with the topics of toxic relationships, childhood trauma, systematic elitism, Brexit Britain, the rise of Donald Trump and much more. Juxtaposed against the horizon reaching sound of guitarist Jack Gilbert, bassist Naomi Le Dune and drummer Max Doohan, Another Sky sounds like nothing and nobody else.
Listen to the EP here:
Photo Credit: Ella Brolly
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