The driving force behind The Singing Skies is Sydney songwriter Kell Derrig-Hall, who has previously worked with Melodie Nelson and Moonmilk. This is his second album as The Singing Skies and it’s quite the immersive, mesmerising and atmospheric listening experience.

Evocative moods via a lush and swooning sonic palette afford Derrig the ability to paint stately and ornate folk songs of the English variety. Everything is considered and most of it is gently presented with strings, guitar, shuffling drums, soft bass and a warm dose of ambient reverb giving the songs a dreamy and pastoral quality.

In the album title and songs there are plenty of references to nature (wind, thunder, mountains, rain, trees, ground) and indeed the organic feel is pervasive, conjuring images of misty woods and damp earth. Melodically Derrig hits upon some fine melodic hooks, giving the album a pop quality in the vein of Cohen, Nick Drake, New Zealand’s Able Tasmans, Gene Clark and The Walker Brothers. His voice has a unique tone – considered and dramatic yet with enough range to take an intimate and meditative approach or soar into the aether, backed by the singing of Lia Tsamoglou. The ethereal folk-noir world of The Singing Skies one worth exploring in depth.

Chris Familton