Red Dirt Skinners – Under Utopian Skies

Just around the corner there will a whole album of new music from the Canadian (by way of Britain) duo, Red Dirt Skinners. Sarah and Rob Skinner have cited musical acts such as David Bowie, Simon and Garfunkel, Supertramp and Pink Floyd as their influences. This explains the vastness of their sound. Meaning everything is rather large and ethereal here. The duo used to be firmly tied to the Country and Blues genres and now they have branched out. Both Rob and Sarah are multi-instrumentalists and that is taken full advantage of here. The nine songs on Under Utopian Skies feature a full sound despite the fact that they are only two. That full sound is complimented rather nicely by their sweet harmonies. The lyrics are all on the positive side and clever to boot. A highlight of the album is their cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb”, which they got permission to do from the iconic band. Other gems include “Blossom and Rain”, “Hey Crawford” and an updated version of their 2012 track, “Lay Me Down”.