BY A SKY

BY A SKY is a new performance project centred on a
core trio of violist Nathan Sherman, keyboardist
Garrett Sholdice, and live electronics performer
Jonathan Nangle. Based in Dublin, Ireland, all three
draw on their backgrounds in classical and
contemporary classical music, and their shared
enthusiasm for drone metal and immersive sonic
experiences. Their material is characterised by
extremes of dynamic: the delicate and intimate co-
existing with the violent and abrasive. Spacious and
cathartic, these soundscapes are sometimes
haunted by the ghosts of older music. In this relentlessly focussed debut, BY A SKY sculpt in
large, deliberate forms. The saturated, monolithic
drone opener “Juno” sets up the title track, “Sun to
Sun”, a smouldering build to an unstable peak,
distilled into a hollowed-out Bach chorale. “Vulture”
offers a Beckett-inspired vista of filmic sub-bass and
metallic viola sheen; this is followed by the restless,
distortion-drenched “Granular Dusk II”. At a
combined 30 minutes, the album's closing pair (“No
Shores Now” & “In Ascension”) offer an almost
symphonic progression, encompassing minimal
percussion, fragments of unearthed melodies (Ravel,
Catalan folk), layers of noise, and an ecstatic
Messiaen-esque processional.