These sort of descriptions, such as this one from Fortitude Magazine, are fairly ubiquitous when it comes to pinpointing the up-and-coming London-based indie-rock outfit, Another Sky. Intrinsically, it is frontwoman Catrin Vincent’s unorthodox and somewhat androgynous vocals which consistently catch the ear of many a listener when stumbling upon the debut EP and handful of singles from the band’s tenure. Having caught my ear with their recent Jools Holland performance, my fondness for the act waned in witnessing their transition to the live stage culminating with a rather predictable performance.
Buried in the eastern hipster-depths of London, also known as Shoreditch, the band were merely a stone’s throw away from where they first met a few years ago at Goldsmith’s University. Since then, my expectations had increasingly risen for this act, wading in their influences of Radiohead, The xx, and Aldous Harding - all seminal acts within their respective genres, yet perhaps set my anticipations all too high for this evening. Commencing strongly with their latest single ‘Apple Tree’, the act garnered incessant wall-of-sound guitar tones and allusive crescendos transcending into atmospheric choruses. Reminiscent of such shoegaze acts as The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Slowdive, the act set an impressive tone for the rest of the evening - with my personal desire in embellishing this further as the set progressed.
This didn’t happen. These tropes were only continued into the following tracks ‘Forget Yourself’ and ‘Chillers’, but not nearly embellished enough. With the former track incorporating some intricate electronic beats and Vincent’s soothing voice within the quieter tonalities, it ultimately failed to match the more raucous crescendos thereafter. The latter track, one of the band’s best singles released thus far, incorporated some great rhythm bolstered by the acoustic guitar refrains and patterned drum beat, but yet again could have evolved further with the vocals. Whilst Vincent’s delivery proved enticing, I felt as if there was much more play to be had with vocal experimentation - from rounds, to harmonies, to delayed effects.
The mid-section of Another Sky’s set included such tracks as ‘The Crack’, ‘All Ends’, and ‘Brave Face’, most of which continued the band’s aforementioned tropes - all-too-reliant on their cacophony of guitars, violins, and percussion. Whilst this set of instrumentation proved pertinent for the first few tracks of the evening, by this point it bordered on trite. Nevertheless, the culmination of the set’s main section with ‘Tree’ allowed Vincent to excel in the more softer tones of the track, with her vocal delivery seamlessly flirting with the subdued synth chords. Evolving into yet another predictable wall-of-sound closer, I can only implore the band to experiment with other trajectories without compromising their luring sound - referencing Arcade Fire’s similar-sounding ‘Suburban War’ as a prime example.
Excavating their most intriguing track for the encore’s finale, ‘Avalanche’, the aforementioned influence of Radiohead came into the fold with the facade of minor-toned guitar riffs, steady drum beats, overlayed with soft falsetto vocals. Yet rather than indulging in the more experimental discography of Radiohead the facade was more reminiscent of the underwhelming Amnesiac LP rather than seminal sounds of Kid A or Hail to the Thief. This may be a gross comparison to make between these two acts yet this act must explore other original avenues of incorporating electronic instrumentation within their tightly-knit indie-rock conglomeration.
This evaluation may be all too premature for a band devoid of an LP, yet my job of describing my impression of any given act in any given day of the week still stands. Therefore, I’ve been forced to contest with such appraisals of Vincent’s vocals as ‘luxuriant’ and ‘haunting’ when in the grand scheme of the music scene - comparing with Sufjan Stevens and PJ Harvey, it may not live up to these particular appraisals. In spite of the predictability through much of Another Sky’s set in London, there is no doubt this act has much potential for the future with Vincent's pertinent lyricism on the Me Too movement and an LP looming in the near distance. As we culminate a desperate decade for the indie-rock scene in the U.K, I firmly believe that whilst experimentation in music may not always equate to brilliance or longevity, it must utilised more within Vincent and Co's future sounds - inevitably helping them to remain ahead-of-the-curve rather than washed over with the all-too-familiar proceedings.
5.5/10
Another Sky’s latest single ‘Apple Tree’ is out now and can be found here.
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