If we’re all truly, truly honest, nobody expected The Horrors to last much beyond their 2007 debut Strange House. An album so out of time and genuinely resplendent in the knowledge of that could not, surely, be the product of a band who took the concept of creating music that seriously. They returned in 2009, and however unlikely a sophomore album from the Southend band might have seemed, it ended the year at the summit of NME’s Album of the Year list, wowing fans and critics alike with a phenomenal blend of krautrock, psychedelia and 80s grunge. And so to 2011, new haircuts, a brand new, self-built studio and The Horrors most important album to date.
It’s hard to say that Skying particularly picks up where Primary Colours left off; the edgy, driven motorik of ‘Sea Within a Sea’ from 2009’s best album gives way to a much more woozy and relaxed style in ‘Changing the Rain’, where needle synths and Faris’ deep falsetto combine for a track that sits as one of the more pop-sensible on the album. That’s not to say that the record as a whole isn’t radio-friendly; perhaps the most obvious difference between this LP and the first two is the fact that it appears to be directed towards Radio 1 airtime without actually being blinkered to that end. The Horrors quite clearly make music for themselves, and no one else.
Other highlights include ‘Still Life’, which you’ll probably have already heard on said radio stations, and album closer ‘Oceans Burning’. The former a very polished and refined piece of psychedelic pop, the latter a slow and druggy 8-minute catharsis that explodes into life halfway through, and is easily one of the best closers in years. It all adds up to an album that retains much of the influence heard in Primary Colours, but presents it in a foggy warmth that’s more direct, more immediate and a little more forgiving.
By Joe Abbitt
Dance Yrself Clean
