the skies, they shift like chords
Format: Vinyl
Roger Eno’s second solo album for Deutsche Grammophon, the skies, they shift like chords, builds on the soundworld of piano and strings heard on his DG solo debut, The Turning Year, expanding it with lines for electric guitar, clarinet, bass clarinet, vibraphone, flute organ and subtle electronic sounds.
Eno’s relationship with his native region of East Anglia is one of the emotional threads running through the skies, they shift like chords. His music is inspired by its landscape – a mix of small market towns, medieval churches, wheatfields, meadows, rivers and open skies – as well as by the work of local poets and the Norwich School of artists, active in the early 1800s. The album’s melancholy tone has much to do with the threat now posed to the region’s biodiversity by intensive farming and climate change.
“The overall mood is one of transience,” says Roger of the skies, they shift like chords, whose moments of stillness are vital, allowing the music to breathe and listeners to explore their own response to it. “There are lots of gaps, silent pauses, throughout the album, which are a really important part of it. When a track finishes, you’re still ‘there’ in the music, and unless the next one comes in at just the right moment, something’s going to jangle with either or both of them. The composing part is only one part of the process – these other, constructive details are very important.”
The album’s only vocal track, “Strangely, I Dreamt” is co-written and sung by Roger Eno’s eldest daughter, vocalist and visual artist Cecily Eno, as well as featuring Christian Badzura and the strings of Scoring Berlin. Directed by Cecily, watch the video here
The album, which is out now on CD and vinyl, has been met with celebratory reviews.
“the skies, they shift like chords is breathtaking in many ways … a remarkable release that unsettles with haunting lines and simultaneously makes one tingle with warmth at a display of beauty – a richness only found in a passion for music” - Spectrum Culture
“Tender, dreamy, and breathtakingly beautiful, the skies, they shift like chords is a delicate, deeply visceral enchantment. From full-bodied orchestral swells to intimate, lone piano performances, the English ambient music composer … evokes a sense of introspection, connection, and quiet contemplation across twelve soul-stirring tracks.” - Atwood Magazine
“Familiar…is “Above and Below (Crepuscular)”’s haunting, Harold Budd like, hall of mirrors, but “Mind the Gap’s” clash of sombre and soaring strings, and the use of his daughter, Cecily’s voice on “Strangely, I Dreamt”, demonstrate his still expanding range” – Uncut
Tracklisting
01. Chordal Drift
02. Tidescape
03. That Which Is Hidden
04. Illusion
05. Above and Below (Crepuscular)
06. Through The Blue (St. Swithin's)
07. Mind The Gap
08. Arms Open Wide
09. Strangely, I Dreamt
10. Japanese Rain Garden
11. If Only For A Moment
12. Where Does This Lead Us?