David Gray

The second LP to be produced by Ben de Vries, the thirteen-track album departs from the shimmering electronics of 2019’s Gold In A Brass Age and embarks on a sparser, communal soundscape. The atmospheric songs centring themselves around six-part vocals with Gray trading his signature gravel for a softer tone. Recorded prior to the pandemic, the album sessions took place at Edwyn Collins’ Helmsdale studio on the Sutherland coast, with De Vries and Gray finessing the mix throughout lockdown. The album’s artwork is created by former art school graduate Gray himself. Skellig takes its name from a formation of precipitous rocky islands off the coast of Co. Kerry, the most westerly point in Ireland.

David Gray‘s fourth studio album failed to chart when first released in 1998, but became an enormous success when re-released on ATO Records in 2000. The album spawned five singles including ‘Babylon’, ‘Please Forgive Me’ and ‘Sail away’ and has now sold over three million copies in the UK alone. The anniversary reissue offers the album remastered, alongside a series of previously unreleased and rare White Ladder-era B-sides and demos (including ‘Over My Head’).