"The Skies, They Shift Like Chords", Roger Eno's second solo album for Deutsche Grammophon, was released in October 2023 to universal acclaim and featured twelve dazzling musical portraits that traced a thought-provoking and thought-provoking path through sound and silence. Following a series of live performances, including sold-out shows at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall and the National Sawdust in New York, the British composer and musician now presents a new mini-album with eight tracks, "the skies: rarities". This collection consists of reinterpretations and unreleased highlights from "the skies..." recording session, along with Eno's 2023 popular World Piano Day track "Through the Blue (Piano Version)" and the former Amazon Original track "Above and Below". "the skies: rarities" begins with two pieces that explore different soundscapes; the singers of Vocalconsort Berlin provide the wordless chorus in "Patterned Ground" for choir and electronics, while the opening track "Breaking The Surface" is by Scoring Berlin. They were asked to combine the notes of the score with moments of improvisation, a process that is central to Roger Eno's music. "A lot of these tracks come from improvisations," explains Roger Eno. "But they are then ''cleaned up'', which usually means that notes are taken out to give the remaining notes more space, which in turn gives people time to think."