Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds have detailed their new album, Council Skies. The follow-up to 2017's Who Built the Moon? arrives June 2 via Gallagher's label, Sour Mash. The 11-track LP will also get an expanded release featuring remixes by Pet Shop Boys, the Cure's Robert Smith, and more. Today, the band has shared a song called "Easy Now," along with a video directed by Colin Solal Cardo and starring Gallagher alongside Milly Alcock (who recently starred as Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon). Check it out below, and scroll down for Council Skies details and the group's UK concert dates.
Council Skies was laid down at Gallagher's own Lone Star Sound Recording Studios in London, with strings recorded at Abbey Road Studios. Gallagher co-produced the LP with longtime collaborator Paul "Strangeboy" Stacey. The album features performances from Johnny Marr on three tracks, including the recent single "Pretty Boy."
Council Skies pays tribute to Gallagher's upbringing in Manchester, according to a press release. The title is taken from a book by revered northern illustrator Pete McKee, a friend of Gallagher. "It's going back to the beginning," Gallagher said of the record. He continued:
Daydreaming, looking up at the sky and wondering about what life could be... that's as true to me now as it was in the early '90s. When I was growing up in poverty and unemployment, music took me out of that. Top of the Pops on TV transformed your Thursday night into this fantasy world, and that's what I think music should be. I want my music to be elevating and transforming in some way.
The album artwork was shot by Manchester photographer Kevin Cummins, who captured the band's live equipment setup on the original center spot of what used to be Maine Road Football Stadium-the home of Gallagher's beloved football club, Manchester City.
In 2019, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds issued the Black Star Dancing EP. In 2021, Gallagher curated a greatest hits album compiling tracks from his output with the group.
01 I'm Not Giving Up Tonight 02 Pretty Boy 03 Dead to the World 04 Open the Door, See What You Find 05 Trying to Find a World That's Been and Gone Pt. 1 06 Easy Now 07 Council Skies 08 There She Blows! 09 Love Is a Rich Man 10 Think of a Number 11 We're Gonna Get There in the End
