Sky Yen

Sky Yen
Studio album by
Released24 April 1980
RecordedMarch 1974
Genre
Length38:33
LabelGroovy
ProducerPete Shelley
Pete Shelley chronology
Sky Yen
(1980)
Homosapien
(1981)

Sky Yen is the first album recorded by English musician Pete Shelley, recorded in March 1974 and released by his label Groovy Records in April 1980. It is Shelley's earliest known recording, and was created when he was in college. After developing an interest in electronic music, Shelley created a single electronic oscillator with an added potentiometer, and recorded the album on the device in his living room while utilising a two-track stereo recorder. The entirely electronic album is experimental in style, and emphasises oscillations and drone characteristics.

Although recorded in 1974, Sky Yen went unreleased for six years until after Shelley had earned recognition in the punk rock band Buzzcocks. The album surprised fans expecting pop music, and received a hostile reception. More positive critical attention has greeted the record in retrospect, and in December 2011, it was re-released by Drag City as part of a series of reissues of the Groovy Records catalogue.