TUESDAY THE SKY / THE BLURRED HORIZON

Tuesday The Sky’s origins could almost be considered accidental. Guitarist Jim Matheos, famed for his work with progressive metal giants Fates Warning alongside projects such as OSI and his collaboration with John Arch, Arch / Matheos, penned a few songs that did not fit in with any of his established outlets, and intrigued by this, decided to write more and see where this took him. The result was 2017’s Drift, a record that drew influence from the likes of Brian Eno, Sigur Ros, Boards Of Canada and Explosions In The Sky, and now he returns with its successor, The Blurred Horizon. “With this one, I knew going into it that I wanted to do a follow up, so it was much more intentional and planned out,” he says. “I kind of fell into the first record, but having done that, it set the tone and direction for the overall project, and I wrote with that in mind this time around. Musically, it’s worlds away from what I usually do, much more introspective, and quiet.”

A mixture of ambient, electronica, post-rock and more, The Blurred Horizon is perhaps best described as a beautiful record, having a natural grace to it. From opener “Half Remembered”, which is tinged with melancholy, to the warmer “Cwmwl” or the haunting “Later, Then Now”, it is quite an understated collection, yet with a lot going on – the agitated, busy “Hypneurotic”, for example, adding a different flavor to the mix. Predominantly the work of Matheos, he acknowledges the advantages and disadvantages of working on something alone. “It can be fun getting lost in my own head when writing and not having to manage other people’s expectations. On the other hand, there are times when it would be nice to bounce ideas around or get some objective feedback.” However, while it is very much his baby, he is not the sole performer on the record, enlisting the help of other musicians where necessary. “It’s primarily a solo project, but with the idea of having different guests on each record to help fill it out and, hopefully, give each one a slightly different sound. With the first record, there was Anna Lynne Williams on vocals for a couple of songs, and Lloyd Hanney of God Is An Astronaut on drums. For this one, the live drums on five tracks were handled by Gavin Harrison of The Pineapple Thief, King Crimson, and Porcupine Tree. He’s my absolute favorite drummer, so he was the first person I thought of when I decided that some of the songs could benefit from real drums. I originally was thinking of just one or two songs, but once I heard how good he made them sound, I kept asking him do more, which, thankfully, he agreed to. His playing added a whole new dimension to the songs, particularly on ‘Hypneurotic’, where he plays two different full drum kit takes, panned left and right, to achieve a kind of ‘double drummer’ effect.”
A1 Half Remembered
A2 Near Light
A3 CWMWL
A4 Where The Enemy Sleeps
A5 Laudanum Dream
B6 Hypneurotic
B7 Later, Then Now
B8 Near Dark
B9 Half Forgotten
B10 The Blurred Horizon
B11 Everything Is Free