Council Skies (Deluxe 2CD)

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Much like how Arctic Monkeys’ ‘The Car’ employed orchestral strings decisively and carefully, ‘Council Skies’ does the same. Easy Now, with its balladeering verses bursting into singalong choruses, is stirring stuff, and highlights the inherent empathy contained within many of his best songs. The rest of Council Skies – a title Noel nicked from a book by his mate, the artist Pete McKee – is less moreishly nostalgic.

Gallagher’s subsequent three EPs released between 2019-20 seemed to reinforce the point that he was determined to push back against what he was best at.There’s little resemblance to the lumpy lad-rock that he and his brother Liam turned to when it all started to sour, but lush ballads and purposeful choices that move the sound on even if the instantly-recognisable voice remains a constant. FOR A GOOD while now, Noel Gallagher seems to have been keen to leave his acoustic guitar locked in its case. The video stars Milly Alcock, who recently starred as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen in the HBO series House Of The Dragon plus a cameo from Noel himself. How far ‘Council Skies’ will travel in the wider pop culture world remains to be seen, but it doesn’t change that it’s the brightest, most listenable collection of songs he’s pieced together in some time.

All tracks have received critical acclaim from media and fans alike, building anticipation for the new record. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds will release Council Skies on the Sour Mash label on 2nd June 2023. Council Skies’ is the highly anticipated fourth studio album from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds released on 2nd June 2023. Alas, with Liam and Noel still scrapping, lately via the mediums of talkSPORT and Twitter, it looks like the closest we’ll get is another High Flying Birds record. The Johnny Marr-starring ‘Pretty Boy’s muted but motorik drive is as close as we’ve heard Noel to re-capturing the rawness of Oasis’ early demos, while ‘Trying To Find A World That’s Been and Gone’ could have been written while daydreaming as a teenager, looking to forge a new path.Five singles have been released from the album so far: "Pretty Boy", "Easy Now", "Dead to the World", "Open the Door, See What You Find" and the title track "Council Skies". A decade since the formation of High Flying Birds and having achieved four UK Number One albums, ‘Council Skies’, produced by Noel and Paul ‘Strangeboy’ Stacey, is the band’s fourth studio album and Noel’s most complete solo statement to date. Photograph: Matt Crockett ‘A chugging slice of 00s indie that seems to go out of its way to produce as generic lyrics as possible’ … Noel Gallagher. Council Skies, named after a book by illustrator and Noel’s friend Pete McKee, finds Gallagher reminiscing about his adolescence in Manchester before he and his brother and their band moved to London and hit it big at the dawn of the Britpop era.