ALBUM REVIEW: Nectar – Silent Skies

There are some records that take the sombre feeling of grey days and cold air and make them feel animated and tangible. SILENT SKIES are the perfect band to put on if you want the emotionally stirring music but to still keep a modern sense of song writing to it. Their latest record Nectar sets out to imprint a stirring set of songs upon you at this dark and often hard time of the year.

There is a definite pop influence through this record, that can’t be denied. However, just because it adheres to some classically appealing tropes in music, doesn’t mean it’s not effective. Taper and Fallen From Heart lean into gentle reverberated vocals over soft, echoing keys that linger in the air bar after bar. It’s a very tender record, but the first three tracks don’t show much variation. For example, it’s only around half way through Neverending, when the instrumentation has some interesting modulation that it becomes apparent that the track has changed.

You could play Nectar to your other relatives, or any Disney obsessed child in your life and they’d most likely find it a good listen. Again, accessibility here is not a negative criticism, but a nod towards the bittersweet uplifting feels of the record as a whole. It’s easy to listen to, and while not easy listening, is pretty palatable with its classical instrumentation and its modern perspective. Leaving for example, is very cinematic, and while it might feel a little repetitive, its emotional core is what draws you in. Closer too pulls into an ever so slightly darker place that engages you more than the other songs because of its bolder push into some different electronic pulses and swells. There’s an air of SIGUR ROS and IMOGEN HEAP in the honesty of the lyrics and the instrumentation here.

Likewise, anyone who leans towards more gothic, symphonic metal might find this haunting piano work very appealing; the sadness that permeates out of them is tangible and very much cathartic to listen to. That said, some of the tracks are a little too long to be engaging for their full length, such as five-minute songs like The One and Cold. With the very pop-influenced style of composing in both structure and with lyrics, it feels like one or two choruses too many by the time the end is reached. That said, Cold is probably one of the best songs on Nectar, giving plenty of room to the strings and to the gentle tension between vocal harmonies. The electronic elements added to this song, and others on the record, are well balanced and don’t offset what the rest of the song is doing at all.

There are definitely some really heartfelt lyrics throughout the record, but with so much of the album feeling soft and fragile, there’s not much to keep you focused for a long time, and certain songs just don’t stick for no other reason than that they are tonally too similar to the other songs on the record.

Nothing on Nectar is unpleasant, in fact it’s a vibrantly gentle and pleasant listening experience. SILENT SKIES have made an atmospheric, emotionally written record that will be appealing to anyone with an appreciation for classical instrumentation and beautiful, clean vocals. Its only downfall is each track is cut too closely from the same cloth and the album homogenises into one bittersweet impression of a record.

Rating: 6/10

Nectar is set for release on February 4th via Napalm Records.

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