Council Skies (Deluxe 2CD)

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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. Council Skies’ is the highly anticipated fourth studio album from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds released on 2nd June 2023. Council Skies’ opens an introspective and personal commentary on Noel’s most formative years, and the wider themes of the forthcoming album.

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. Gallagher began demoing the album in late 2021 with sessions commencing at Lone Star Studios in January 2022.

The new album features performances from Johnny Marr on three tracks, including the recent single Pretty Boy. Online since 2010 it is one of the fastest-growing and most respected music-related publications on the net.

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.The days of his audience listening to tunes that they “won’t give a shit about” could be about to end – these songs bridge the gap splendidly. 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. Council Skies takes its title from a book by the artist Pete McKee and reflects the album's theme of youthful ambition, as Noel explains. The rest of Council Skies – a title Noel nicked from a book by his mate, the artist Pete McKee – is less moreishly nostalgic. He added: “Top Of The Pops on TV transformed your Thursday night into this fantasy world, and that’s what I think music should be.