Skyewards
Trip Hop, 2009

Skye’s follow-up to her solo debut effort offers more of the same yet different. Yes, that’s the same voice that made the songs by Morcheeba so recognizable, and there are those trip hop grooves that will be familiar to people that have heard of her performing either with that group or on her own.

However, Keeping Secrets is more of a long, lovely therapeutic aural experience, as the songs here seem to be designed to bring on the tranquility and zen in the mind of the listener. The songs range from quiet ballads to slightly louder upbeat songs, but there is nothing here that will make the heart skip a beat. Far from it, more like the opposite, as I’ve had a lovely calm in the mind by the time the album comes to an end.

The standout track is Not Broken, if you ask me, because everything comes together perfectly here. It starts out with a quiet yet firm assurance to keep on the path and don’t be discouraged by the obstacles on that path.

On and on, hold on
Not broken in two; not you!
Like the seed, you grow
Under it all
Your roots take hold

Then comes the beautiful chorus, with the promise that things will one day be better and we will all find that place where we will belong, at peace, accepted.

And when you fall down in between them all
Here you are whole, not broken
Leave it behind – all of the pain inside
Here you will be, not broken

There are many ways to interpret this song, as it can be a motivational song or even an invitation to end it all, but I’d like to think of it as the former, as Ms Skye’s repertoire as a solo artist up to this point has been more of a musical motivational guru than queen of the emos.

The rest of the songs, I admit, can come together to feel like one long same-y tune, but I’m perfectly fine with this when the result is a lovely head trip experience that takes me to this relaxing place in the mind. I don’t even have to shell out for happy pills or gas to achieve this effect, so that is a lovely kind of awesome in itself.