Skying is the third studio album by British band The Horrors

The Horrors

The Horrors are an English band from Southend on Sea, formed in 2005. Their debut Strange House, was released in 2007 and reached number thirty-seven on the UK Albums Chart, their second album Primary Colours was released in 2009 and peaked at number 25 in the UK...

. The album was released on 11 July 2011 in the UK and on 9 August 2011 in the US on XL recordings

XL Recordings

XL Recordings is a British independent record label owned by Richard Russell. It originated as a 1989 offshoot of Beggars Banquet Records.Though only releasing an average of six albums a year, XL Recordings has worked with The Prodigy, Radiohead, The White Stripes, Dizzee Rascal, M.I.A., Vampire...

. Recorded by the band in their self-built London studio, it is the first record the band has produced themselves. Two months prior to the album's release the song "Still Life

Still Life (The Horrors song)

"Still Life" is the first single released from The Horrors third album Skying. It was only released as a promotional two track CD-single in the UK. The song's first airing was in May during Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show....

" was premiered on Zane Lowe

Zane Lowe

Zane Lowe also known as 'Zipper', is a radio DJ and television presenter. He was born in New Zealand and grew up in Auckland, where he was a presenter on the local music station Max TV, before moving to England...

's Radio 1 show as his 'Hottest Record in the World' where it was played in its entirety. This was the first track to be released from the album and the first indicator to fans of the direction the album would take.

The Japanese CD edition features two additional bonus tracks which are ambient remixes.

The digital US release contains one bonus track.

Track listing

Reception

Skying has received much attention from the music press before its release after the overwhelming positive response to Primary Colours

Primary Colours (album)

Primary Colours is the second studio album by British post-punk revival band The Horrors. It was released in the US on 21 April 2009, and in the UK on 4 May 2009 by XL Recordings. The album charted on the UK Albums Chart at #25. According to aggregating website Metacritic, the record was met with...

. Numerous music publications confirmed it would be their album of the month in their upcoming issues including Mojo

Mojo (magazine)

MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...

 and Q

Q (magazine)

Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...

. The single Still Life has gained far more media exposure and mainstream radio airplay than previous releases, reaching the Radio 1 A list.

• Article about the pre-release.
• Article about track-by-track.

Reviewing the album for BBC Music

BBC Music

BBC Music is a team working in the department of Audio and Music Interactive at the BBC. Responsible for the BBC Music website - the portal site to music content across the BBC website....

, Mike Diver

Mike Diver

Mike Diver is a British music journalist. He started his career at music website Drowned in Sound, where he became editor, before moving on in 2008 to become editor of Clash magazine's website. He has contributed to several magazines including NME and Rock Sound.Diver is currently album reviews...

 wrote, "There's no fault to be found with Skying – truly, every song here hits its mark... From the most incongruous of beginnings, The Horrors have become national treasures in waiting, and now possess the ability to realise any ambitions". Likewise, Clash

Clash

- Music :*The Clash, an English punk rock band*The Clash , the 1977 titular album*Clash , a British music magazine*Clash cymbals, a musical instrument*Clash Records, Dutch reggae and breakcore music producer...

 Magazine ran the review as lead album feature, with writer Joe Zadeh declaring The Horrors

The Horrors

The Horrors are an English band from Southend on Sea, formed in 2005. Their debut Strange House, was released in 2007 and reached number thirty-seven on the UK Albums Chart, their second album Primary Colours was released in 2009 and peaked at number 25 in the UK...

 "an intellectually collective five-piece, fully immersed in the confidence of their own astonishing abilities".

Charts

Chart (2011)	Peak position
Scottish Albums Chart	7
UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...	5
U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	97
U.S. Billboard Rock Albums	18
U.S. Billboard Independent Albums	11
U.S. Billboard Alternative Albums	12
U.S. Billboard Tastemaker Albums	3

Release history

Region	Date	Distributing label	Format	Catalog
Australia	8 July 2011	XL	2LP, CD, digital download	2LP: XLLP539 CD: XLCD539
United Kingdom	11 July 2011
United States	9 August 2011