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Metacritic	77/100
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Allmusic
BBC Music	favourable
Clash Music	9/10
Consequence of Sound
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NME	8/10
Pitchfork Media	5.1/10
PopMatters	8/10
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Standing at the Sky's Edge is the seventh studio album from English musician Richard Hawley, released in the UK on 7 May 2012 and in the US on 28 August 2012. The album is markedly different from Hawley's previous efforts, often relinquishing softer instrumentation in favour of squalling guitars. As with all of Hawley's previous albums, the title obliquely refers to a location in his native city of Sheffield, in this case Skye Edge, a hillside area with views over the city centre and formerly known for its crime-ridden estates but largely redeveloped in the mid-2000s.

On 12 September 2012 the album was nominated for the 2012 Mercury Prize, Hawley's second nomination after 2005's Coles Corner.

According to Hawley the album was written while taking his dog for his daily walks near his home in the western suburbs of Sheffield: "The album was more or less written on those walks. I'd come back with whole songs, melodies and all, on my mobile phone". Hawley has described Standing at the Sky’s Edge as "an angry album... I wanted the music to suit the mood of the songs". Coming from a working-class socialist background, Hawley disagreed with many of the policies of the Conservative Party which became the dominant party in the coalition government following the 2010 general election, saying "I think I started writing when the Tories got in – it influenced a lot of the first song which was 'Down in the Woods'. They were trying to sell off the forest land, and that had me really fucking outraged." In an interview with The Guardian, Hawley stated, "I don't really write political songs but like most right-minded people I'm angry at what's happening here in Britain. It's to do with having kids, to a degree, and watching them grow and wondering what sort of mess we're going to leave them with." Referring to the album's title, he said, "Sky Edge, it's more a metaphor... we are stood on the edge, politically and socially... I suppose it's time for us to decide which side of the line do we stand, and I will always stand with the people, always".

Hawley has also described the untimely and tragic death in February 2010 of his close friend, Sheffield guitarist Tim McCall, as the "catalyst for a lot of musical activity" and the reason for the change in musical style on the album, saying "...the thing with Tim passing away... is that it made me kind of think musically is there anything I've left undone... and I thought, I haven't really ever just used the guitar as the only vehicle".

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