Two months prior to its release, the song "Still Life" was premiered on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show, where it was played in its entirety and named as his "Hottest Record in the World".

[citation needed] Skying received considerable attention from the music press before its release, following the overwhelming positive response to Primary Colours.

Reviewing the album for BBC Music, Mike Diver wrote, "There's no fault to be found with Skying – truly, every song here hits its mark... From the most incongruous of beginnings, The Horrors have become national treasures in waiting, and now possess the ability to realise any ambitions".

Likewise, Clash ran the review as a lead album feature, with writer Joe Zadeh declaring the Horrors as "an intellectually collective five-piece, fully immersed in the confidence of their own astonishing abilities".

Hot Press said: "This is fundamentally a psych-rock record...From the cover – an ethereal sea/sky combo with lens flare at the periphery – to the vague, fuzzy song titles..., Skying is a very tripped-out kind of album, with echoes of the early '90s shoegaze brigade...