Order nowRoger Eno reimagines his second DG solo album to create "the skies: rarities"
Released to universal acclaim in October 2023, the skies, they shift like chords, Roger Eno’s second solo album for Deutsche Grammophon, contained twelve shimmering musical portraits that traced an evocative and thought-provoking path through sound and silence. Fresh from a series of live performances which included sold-out shows at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and National Sawdust in New York, the British composer and musician now presents a new eight-track mini-album, the skies: rarities. This collection consists of reinterpretations and unreleased highlights from the skies… recording session, together with Eno’s popular 2023 World Piano Day track “Through the Blue (Piano Version)” and the former Amazon Original track “Above and Below”. Out digitally and on 12-inch vinyl on 27 September 2024, the skies: rarities also features Scoring Berlin and the singers of Vocalconsort Berlin.
Inspired in part by the open skies and landscapes of East Anglia and the threat posed to the region’s biodiversity in our modern world, the music of the skies, they shift like chords has an elegiac feel. The same nostalgic yet vibrant tone flows through Roger Eno’s new Rarities mini-album – listen, for example, to the gentle, ethereal sound of solo piano tracks such as “Changing Light” and “Into Silence”.
Other solo pieces include the original rework of “Through the Blue (Piano Version)” which was laid down for World Piano Day and also the original version of “Above and Below”. Neither of these fan favourites have been released before on physical format and have only appeared in different guises on the skies, they shift like chords. Reviewing his recent live performance at London’s Southbank Centre, Electronic Sound wrote, “Even without the undulating ambient landscapes that Daniel Lanois and [Eno’s] brother Brian added to the piece as producers, ‘Through the Blue’ is breathtaking.”
This is the second “rarities” mini-album that Roger has conceived – reimaginations of the original work that began with his debut solo album on DG, The Turning Year. His latest “rarities release” begins with two tracks that explore different soundworlds; the singers of Vocalconsort Berlin provide the wordless chorus in “Patterned Ground”, for choir and electronics, while the opening piece, “Breaking The Surface”, features Scoring Berlin. They were asked to combine the notes on the score with moments of improvisation, a process central to Roger Eno’s music. As he explains: “I like the idea of treating composition as watercolour sketches, like those by the Norwich School of painters from the early 1800s, where they get what they see onto the paper with fast brushstrokes.”
“A lot of these tracks come from improvisations, he continues. “But they’re then ‘cleaned up’, which generally means taking notes out to give the ones that remain more space, which in turn gives people time to reflect.”
Watch the official music video of ’Now & Then’ here
“Tender, dreamy, and breathtakingly beautiful, [the album] is a delicate, deeply visceral enchantment”
Atwood Magazine, on the skies, they shift like chords“a beautiful reflection on the here, the now, and an uncertain future”
The Line of Best Fit, on the skies, they shift like chords“a quiet joy to experience”
Exposé, on the skies, they shift like chords
