Northern Sky

About Northern Sky

"Northern Sky" is a song from the English singer-songwriter Nick Drake's 1970 album Bryter Layter, produced by John Cale. During the recording sessions for the album, the chronically shy and withdrawn songwriter formed a friendship and a mentorship of sorts with producer Joe Boyd, an early supporter of Drake. Boyd saw commercial potential in the acoustic and unaccompanied demo version of the song, and recruited former Velvet Underground member John Cale as producer. Cale added piano, organ and celesta arrangements, initially against Drake's wishes. The song marked a strong redirection in Drake's sound. He was pleased with Cale's production, and anticipated that the song would be his commercially successful break through. However, Island Records decided against releasing it as a single, and the accompanying album, like its predecessor, did not receive marketing support, and so failed to sell. Having tried lush arrangements, Drake's following album Pink Moon is characterised by bleak vocals and sparse guitar parts, but again only received limited release. more »