Another Sky for this Tuesday Lunchroom – Recorded live at The Lafayette in London on November 8, 2023.
I will never understand why some bands are around for decades and you never liked them in the first place, while others are around for what seem like a matter of minutes before dissolving. They leave behind a catalogue of questions, mysteries and perplexity.
Another Sky formed initially in 2014 in London, although history books say they really didn’t get rolling until 2017. They consisted of Catrin Vincent, Max Doohan, Naomi Le Dune, and Jack Gilbert. Vincent’s unique singing voice is often mentioned in reviews, including for their released debut album, I Slept On the Floor, in 2020. They have followed their debut up with an EP, Music For Winter Vol. I, in 2021, and their second album, Beach Day, in 2024. The band announced their split in April 2025, with the intention of releasing an EP, titled “Mirror”, as their final release.
Without question, the voice of Catrin Vincent is the jewel in the mix. A soaring Contralto that’s often not heard in most bands (except maybe Siouxsie Sioux), but which is riveting in its raw and overwhelming power.
Wikipedia provides a timeline for the group, only adding to the mystery, but still . . .
In 2016, before naming their band, they wrote an unreleased song named “Another Sky” after Emily Dickinson‘s poem “There is another sky” and named their band after that song because it “made complete sense; when we make music together, we feel like we’re somewhere different”. Early performances include supporting experimental artist, Ghostpoet, alongside singer-songwriter, Rosie Lowe and playing the BBC Introducing stage at Bestival.]
Their first public performance was at London’s St Pancras Old Church in 2017. For that performance and later ones, they performed in total darkness and then sometimes backlit with custom built lights, in an attempt to remain anonymous. By early 2019, they had started performing more conventionally.
In 2019, their song “The Cracks” was included in the soundtrack of the video game FIFA 20.
In early 2021, they told Dork magazine that they are working on volume two for Music for Winter and a second full-length album. They had hinted it was possible it could have been released in 2021 (as of January 2025, only the full-length album, Beach Day, had been released), but also did not want to commit to a timeline.
In March 2022, they announced on their Twitter account that the band members agreed their second album was “finished and ready for mixing.”
On 12 April 2023, they released two new songs, “Psychopath” and “Watching Basinski”, their first since the Music for Winter, Vol. 1 EP. They also announced they have signed with Republic Records in the United States.
On 1 March 2024, they released their sophomore album: Beach Day. They had announced its release on 28 November 2023 along with releasing their fourth single related to the new album, a B-side, “Aimee Caught A Moth”.
The band announced their split in April 2025, with the intention of releasing an EP, titled “Mirror”, as their final release.
So there you have it – a short, somewhat maddening history of a band that had all the earmarks of being legendary. By all accounts, Another Sky called it quits for financial reasons. An interview for NME with Catrin Vincent revealed the COVID lockdown was a major contributor – that, and not making enough money, even via part time jobs to sustain any sort of life (something that’s been a plague to musicians since the beginning of time). The decision to disband wasn’t taken lightly and I could imagine it would be more than difficult, sensing the positive reactions from audience and critics alike. The cold hard facts: In the current climate, it is virtually impossible to sustain life as a musician (or any creative person, for that matter).
Fingers crossed for a glimmer of hope tucked in there and Another Sky could resurrect at some point. But I’m afraid we’ll be hearing more of these stories than the “instant successes”.
In any case, have a listen and remind yourself that Art is tough and living is sometimes tougher.
