Today Celestial North returns with her lush new single ‘Olympic Skies’ taken from her spellbinding debut album Otherworld. Released in July and co-produced with Woody (formerly of Sea Power) The album beckons you into her shimmering and ethereal world of spiralling wyrd pop; enchanting impossibility and shimmering beauty, bathed in folklore.
‘Olympic Skies‘ is described by Celestial North as a breakup song between the land and modern man. It’s a hymn connecting humanity, spirituality and the history of the land sent spiralling into the sky.” Rich with ethereal vocals, and swirling harmonies, resonating with depth and mystery. The rich pastoral lyrics ripple with power like a goddess wooing the earth with spells and incantations. Sighing harmonies drape over stately pianos and tip-toeing rhythms and are woven with “Pagan euphoria;” a term coined by Celestial North herself. Listen here:
Olympic Skies follows the lead single ‘Otherworld’ as premiered by Chris Hawkins on BBC 6 Music which, alongside previous singles ‘When The Gods Dance’ and ‘The Nature of Light’, received airplay from the BBC, Amazing Radio, and various BBC Introducing shows, receiving glowing reviews from Prog Magazine, The Skinny, God Is in The TV, Under The Radar and Snack Magazine. The instrumental lushness of ‘Yarrow’ is described by Prog Magazine as ‘sharing a sensibility with Yann Tiersen’ through ‘twinkling pianos, sweeping vocals and a comforting sense of weirdness.’ A reworking of R.E.M.’s ‘Nightswimming‘ received national radio play with BBC Scotland’s Roddy Hart proclaiming it “Majestic”. The release was included in Bandcamp’s Essential Releases with Nightswimming chosen as the Editorial Director’s personal highpoint.
Deeply influenced by her natural surroundings and wild Scottish upbringing, the album was co-recorded and produced with Woody (Sea Power) in the Lake District, creating a stunning tapestry of work that adds a human heart and touch to elements of dream pop, electro-pop, folktronica, gaze, and techno, offering an escape to new realms, adventurous and futuristic, yet with its roots in ancient civilisations of the past. ‘Otherworld‘ is another marvellous step forward in her artistry and is the product of years of honing and refining her songwriting and sound. Describing the process of writing Otherworld, Celestial North reveals “I imagined that I was time-traveling through different and exciting worlds. Wandering through the ancient, sacred stone circles at Machrie Moor and then jumping straight into an underground rave in the forest.”
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