Jesse Fahnestock, referencing Hermann Melville’s great American novel, Moby Dick, describes “Other Skies” as his “white whale.”

“I wanted it to be like Primal Scream’s “Higher Than The Sun” or One Dove’s “Fallen”.

To some extent, then, Jesse has indeed succeeded, `cos his keys do sort subliminally, kinda conjure The Scream’s “Come Together”. The biggest reference point, though, for me personally, is the work of William Orbit, especially when he teamed up with Laurie Meyer and Rico Conning as Torch Song. The track seems to channel, in particular, their cover of Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home”. Singer / songwriter Emilia Harmony’s wistful words are also concerned with similar themes - “It’s about me feeling so far away from the rest of the world, off in another sky, with a gift for everyone, but no one can see me.”

The pair began collaborating in 2021, when Emilia reached out to Jesse after hearing his work as 10:40, and sent him a couple of lines sung into her phone. Jesse was “obsessed right away.” The results are a folk-tinged electronic pop song. Its synths softly gated. Psychedelic like sonic hookah smoke. Bass booming. Emilia’s intimate whispers further accompanied by ripples of trippy tremolo guitar. Its chorus containing the cool punk-like couplet, “Take part, make art”. Something that Jesse says he’d like to, in a nod The Clash, spray-paint on city walls. 

On the remix front, Sean Johnston and Duncan Gray join forces as Hardway Bros Meet Monkton for another one of their rocking Uptown Dubs. Showering the song with sound-effects borrowed from Andrew Weatherall and Hugo Nicolson’s box of studio trickery, they reduce Emilia to an echo and instead let a melodica take the lead. Congas rattle and the bass (Jah) wobbles to create a stoned, tribal campfire stomp. Like some early `90s prog-housers wasted on some serious bad weed - skunked - with a wicked, loose live feel to the mix. 

Tambores En Benirras, aka Graham “Gripper” Newby - currently poised to release his own epic sophomore set on NuNorthern Soul - then produces a pumping, chugging take. Subjecting an “Up, down, spin around” loop of Emilia’s lyric to big bottom-end arpeggios, and flashes of dubwise feedback. Its indie-rock edge, and pretty chiming guitars, can’t help but recall Creation Records’ classic collisions of shoegaze and Shoom. 

Balearic Ultras, hearing something of Stella Grundy and Intastella in ethereal Emilia, play up the track’s pop / `90s chart potential. Submitting a slow, chunky, bottom-end heavy version that’s peppered by a catchy, rattling, percussive hook.