Albums to watch

Skying

The Horrors

Skying

Third album from the Southend quintet, displaying yet another shift in sound, this time to the epic dark pop of the eighties

ADM rating[?]

8.2

Label
XL
UK Release date
11/07/2011
US Release date
26/07/2011
  1. 10.0 |   BBC

    There’s no fault to be found with Skying – truly, every song here hits its mark
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  2. 10.0 |   The Fly

    Potentially the most important band of their generation. The question is, how much better can they get?
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  3. 10.0 |   Independent on Sunday

    This is an album that’s ostentatiously overloaded on melody, and on all-round sonic luxury. This is the one
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  4. 10.0 |   The Skinny

    A curiously individual creation
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  5. 9.0 |   Rave Magazine

    A clever, artful record, masterfully put together by a band who clearly love music, and one that should silence any remaining doubters
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  6. 9.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    A masterful work
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  7. 9.0 |   Clash

    An intellectually collective five-piece, fully immersed in the confidence of their own astonishing abilities
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  8. 9.0 |   Consequence Of Sound

    Cements the band as a major force in modern music, and captures their unstoppable growth
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  9. 9.0 |   Pretty Much Amazing

    The Horrors return time and time again sounding more accomplished than ever
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  10. 9.0 |   musicOMH

    Skying has a new swagger and panache, but it also possesses that lightness of touch which was first audible in Primary Colours
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  11. 8.7 |   Beats Per Minute

    The work of a band firing on all cylinders, and an exceptional offering from a group that, out of nowhere, is quickly becoming one of the most exciting young acts around
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  12. 8.3 |   A.V. Club

    It’s another expertly muso mélange of influences but here it produces an even more singular, arresting sound
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  13. 8.0 |   DIY

    It seems the balance between immediacy and art may finally have been found
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  14. 8.0 |   FasterLouder

    The genre-spanning antics of The Horrors are truly something to be admired
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  15. 8.0 |   The Quietus

    Spirits from other genres, other bands, and other movements float throughout Skying, but they're manipulated into something new
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  16. 8.0 |   No Ripcord

    After exploring the subterranean depths, these exemplary players have risen with a more radiant outlook that suits them. For once, the NME actually got it right
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  17. 8.0 |   Under The Radar

    Embraces a Technicolor, wall-of-sound grandeur. It's pretty much The Horrors gone Imax and the results are surprisingly fantastic
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  18. 8.0 |   Slant Magazine

    The Horrors are a young band that can embody the styles they love so fully that they truly do become their own, and at their best, the line between duplication and reinvention vanishes almost entirely
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  19. 8.0 |   The Scotsman

    A record which should be enjoyed little and often, to allow the necessary blend of pleasant surprise and familiarity to grow
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  20. 8.0 |   Evening Standard

    The Horrors deal in a sleepy psychedelia: there are no melodic placebos here, just a strict regimen of atmosphere, a demand that you fit your mindscape to their dreamscape
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  21. 8.0 |   God Is In The TV

    Gone away was the goth-tinged garage rock; here to stay was their new shoe gazing, psychedelic-inspired maturity
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  22. 8.0 |   Mojo

    Fuelled by their passion for music, that enthusiasm is now matched by a greater understanding of techniques: The Horrors have come of age. Print edition only

  23. 8.0 |   Q

    This isn't blissed-out dream-pop but a beautiful Twin Peaks-style nightmare. Print edition only

  24. 8.0 |   Uncut

    Richer, heavier, more lustrous than Primary Colours, this is the band left to their own devices
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  25. 8.0 |   NME

    Further proof of The Horrors’ overarching ambition – that they’re one of this generation’s most important bands
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  26. 8.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    If Krautrock originally soundtracked endless endless Autobahn, this is the beautiful racket of a sudden highway pile-up
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  27. 8.0 |   State

    Has cemented their position as one of the most inventive and imaginative guitar bands around right now
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  28. 8.0 |   The Guardian

    Handsome, dramatic pop songs
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  29. 8.0 |   The Irish Times

    Whether they're channelling the more strung-out moments of shoegaze or even Simple Minds in their spacey pomp, The Horrors are reaching for a whole new patch of sky
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  30. 8.0 |   The Independent

    It's a significant shift in direction, which relies less on altering sound than changing the emotional vector of their music
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  31. 7.5 |   Pitchfork

    Whether a calculated retreat or just a natural maturation, the Horrors have found a sound more content with background and atmosphere, and it suits them nicely
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  32. 7.0 |   PopMatters

    Skying is the work of a band that’s living up to the hype, just after the fact
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  33. 7.0 |   Bowlegs

    The Horrors remain unwilling to let us get to grips with their sound, each record a slight shift in a new direction. But wherever they go, the dark, almost doomed persona is ever-present, ensuring we don’t forget who is behind the wall of sound
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  34. 7.0 |   Spin

    [Adds] expansive synthscapes and subtle brass arrangements to the art-rock gravitas of 2009's Primary Colours
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  35. 6.0 |   The Observer

    Easily the Horrors' most cogent record, with pop songs taking shape through the wooze of guitar effects
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  36. 6.0 |   Blurt

    Skying proves a maturing for the band and unveils a new realm of sonic possibilities
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  37. 6.0 |   Scotland on Sunday

    Bigger on synthetics than any real soul bigger on synthetics than any real soul
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The Horrors: Skying

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