Another Sky – Beach Day Review

With the cold weather kicking in earlier every year, it is up to the spring and summer releases we missed the first time around to warm us. It is either that or another phone call with British Gas. Seek out the warmth of music then with this, Beach Day from Another Sky. Their indie rock sound is something to catch up on as we enter the last days of the year. Take on the embrace of quality art pop, a second album effort from Another Sky and four years after their first. What the band learns in that time, what they start moulding and moving their instrumental forces and lyrical wit towards, is crucial to the success of Beach Day. Move along from the first piece of work, to grow and learn from it regardless of the cost is the most important thing any band can do. Beach Day does it.  

Standing out in a genre stuffed full of personable and often relatable materials is tricky, but Another Sky has a continuously open heart and specifics which make the art rock genre beat a little louder. Beach Day hits all the expected tones of the genre. Punchy instrumentals with each band member fighting for that crucial spot of euphoric excess. What could have sounded like a disastrous occasion of one-upmanship instead evolves into a cacophony of those usual indie suspects, a strong foundation for vocalist Catrin Vincent to leap from. A truly unique voice there which proves a shock on opener Beach Day but by second song The Pain is a fascinating and triumphant vocal addition. Beach Day has purpose in its wordplay, in its samples of those fitness freaks up early in the day to perform their yoga, to eat their granola. Rally against the placidity as Beach Day does.  

But this is the reaction we have when facing social and personal gentrification. Our ties to hometowns or places of interest are severed and Another Sky is aware of this brutality. Their Emily Dickinson-influenced style, the soft revisions made on A Feeling or Uh Oh! feel for the image we have, the idyllic memories which hold up those youthful days. Accept the loss as Another Sky does on I Never Had Control, the core of Beach Day and a powerful, heartfelt piece from a band finding their instrumental niche. The likes of Death of the Author serve not just as a lament to the importance of sharp writing but as a powerful vocal example – one of many heard on Beach Day. Introspective particulars of real interest are the draw here. Beach Day has plenty of differences and charming songs billed on the personable fight against losing ourselves and the past.  

Unique vocal spoils from Vincent provide a new layer to a genre where most carve out a small part of it for themselves and carry on without much growth. Another Sky is not content with this. No artist should be. Their boundary-pushing elements are at times a little tense and based on the promise of a potential result than anything resounding but that is where the risk becomes so thrilling. What marks Beach Day as such an enjoyable experience is the ambition, the chances taken and the constant trace of some booming new success. Beach Day is filled with exceptional songs and the form of its message, the whole atmosphere and impression left by the band, is marvellous.