CATALOGUE: FM67
ARTIST:
 THE LONGEST DAY
TITLE: 
BEYOND YOUR SKIES
FORMAT: 
CD / DIGITAL
RELEASED: July 2012

BUY: CD | DIGITAL AT BANDCAMP

TRACKLISTING:

1. Sleep is Silence
2. Amend the Ocean
3. The Tempest
4. Coded Flight
5. Closer to the Sun
6. All is Quiet
7. Ill Fares the Land (Part two)
8. The Longest Night
9. Signs of Life
10. Raft

RELEASE DETAILS:

Beyond Your Skies is the long-awaited fourth album from The Longest Day, a duo comprising of Sydney’s Brad Stafford and Canberra resident Jay Annabel.

Apart from some patchy periods of song writing and performing live on the back of their 2009 album Night Falls, the duo made no concerted effort to create a follow up until late 2011 when Brad and Jay holed up for a few days in Jay’s house in Canberra.
The resulting sessions became the framework for Beyond Your Skies and in the following months the various sketches and musical ideas were expanded into fully formed pieces.

Whilst the shoegaze and space-rock influences of their previous recordings are still at the forefront there is an undeniable pop sensibility creeping into the new material which calls to mind acts such as Swervedriver and Ride. Despite drawing influence from numerous genres including ambient, drone, indie and post-rock as well as the aforementioned shoegaze and space-rock, Beyond Your Skies is the duo’s most cohesive and accessible work to date. From the fuzzed out bliss of album opener Sleep is Silence, to the neo classical inflections of The Tempest. From the acoustic pop of Amend the Ocean to the sprawling grandeur of album centrepiece Closer to the Sun, The Longest day have crafted an amazing ‘album’ in the true sense of the word. A journey designed to be listened to from beginning to end

The duo further expanded their sonic palette with long-time friend and collaborator Christy Romanick providing shimmering drones and vocals on All is Quiet, whilst Tim and Peter Hollo of acclaimed string quartet Fourplay provide Viola and Cello respectively on The Tempest. Christy is also responsible for the amazing photography included in the album’s artwork which provides the perfect visual accompaniment to the duo’s engaging sounds

ALBUM CREDITS

All songs by The Longest Day, except All is Quiet by The Longest Day and Christy Romanick
Cello on The Tempest by Peter Hollo
Viola on The Tempest by Tim Hollo
Album recorded in Sydney and Canberra, Summer 2011/2012
Mastered by Jay Annabel, February 2012
Album photography by Christy Romanick
Layout by Brad Stafford

REVIEWS:

“The Longest Day are a fascinating band and Beyond Your Skies is a highly nuanced affair, a chameleon thing that often surprises and entertains greatly….. Do yourself a big favour and make sure this does not pass you by” 4ZZZ

“Haunting and epic stuff as well as a quantum step forward for The Longest Day” BMA Magazine

LINKS:

The Longest Day website