| C Duncan — The Midnight Sun (October 14, 2016) |
C Duncan — The Midnight Sun (October 14, 2016) 
••→ Podzim v zemi melodií. “The Midnight Sun” je silně stylizovaný návrat, který během celé stopáže drží vysokou úroveň, archaické zvuky vytvářejí svojí specifickou spektrální atmosféru, zejména se však C Duncan spoléhá na nadčasová pravidla kompozice, stejně jako to dělal na předcházejícím albu “Architect” [nominovaném v Mercury Prize]. Je jisté, že se setkal s ohlasem. Je zarážející, jak často Duncan používá arpeggia.
••→ S větší novou live show po celé Evropě v závěsu, C Duncan rozkvetl na úroveň plně vyzrálého živého umělce. Po rychlém sledu hraní v klubově~undergroundovém prostředí teď v průběhu celého roku sám vyprodává sály pro 900 lidí, jeho live show postupují mílovými kroky. Nově je spojen s tříčlennou kapelou, poskytující perfektní kulisu pro jeho tlumené vokály a umožňující vyznít bohatým harmoniím s fascinující přesností. Zpočátku to zkoušel s klavírem a violou, ale hraní s kapelami v jeho dospívání ho přiklonily k učení na kytaru, basu a bicí. Zapsal se na Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (nyní the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) ke studiu hudební kompozice. A jsme zase na na začátku krásného dramatu.
Born: Christopher Duncan in Glasgow. 29 July, 1989
Location: Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Album release: October 14, 2016
Record Label: Fatcat Records
Genre: Indie Singer~Songwriter, Indie Pop
Duration: 43:07
Tracks:
01. Nothing More 3:56
02. Like You Do 4:42
03. Other Side 3:15
04. Wanted To Want It Too 3:58
05. Who Lost 3:37
06. On Course 3:38
07. Last To Leave 3:31
08. Do I Hear? 4:03
09. The Midnight Sun 4:16
10. Jupiter 4:23
11. Window 3:48
℗ 2015 C Duncan under exclusive license to FatCat Records
••→ Glasgow’s prodigious talent C Duncan released his critically acclaimed and Mercury Prize nominated debut full~length ‘Architect’ last July, wrapping up an extremely successful first year with a headline tour and stunning sell~out performance at Union Chapel. Follow up ‘The Midnight Sun’ sees the bedroom producer return with a more expansive and experimental second offering, blending electronic elements and sweeping synth sounds with his signature layered vocals and dreamy instrumentation.
••→ The album borrows its name from a Twilight Zone episode aired in 1961, in which the Earth’s orbit has been perturbed, causing it to fall slowly towards the sun. “’The Midnight Sun’ is one of my favorite episodes,” Duncan muses, “it embodies the style of Twilight Zone perfectly, which is often claustrophobic, mysterious and unnerving. Like Architect, The Midnight Sun was recorded and produced entirely by C Duncan in his Glasgow flat, using his bedroom studio set~up and gradually adding each layer and each instrument one at a time. Though time~consuming, the process allowed him to lovingly assemble an intricate and subtle collection of songs that pick up where Duncan began with Architect and move toward a cleaner and more precise vision of the Scottish songwriter’s vision. Duncan has heralded the new album as his “most coherent and concise work, sonically.”
••→ The album’s artwork, a painting of a dimly lit staircase, is also a piece by C Duncan, who also happens to be a skilled painter. “This being another album made from home, I wanted the artwork to parallel that.” elaborates the artist. “The paintings I have done for it are of interiors ~ the stairwell outside my flat to be precise. I spend a lot of time out there thinking about music, and I wanted there to be a very personal element to the artwork.”
••→ The Midnight Sun is decidedly personal, a testament to why he’s been so lavished with praise in his home country and now, on the precipice of this new release, its clear that Duncan will charm the rest of the world as well.
Review:
By John Bell / 29 SEPTEMBER 2016, 12:15 BST // SCORE: 9
••→ In the episode “The Midnight Sun”, from Rob Serling’s acclaimed 1960s thriller anthology~series The Twilight Zone, an artist and her landlady struggle with the inescapable rising temperature as a result of the Earth being thrown off its elliptical orbit. Warm, sunny landscapes — which are themselves melting — are all the artist can seem to paint as the all~encompassing heat posseses her. Suspense builds as the rising temperature pushes men to to madness, the threat of looting and worse ever~looming.
••→ As a favourite of young Glaswegian C Duncan, this episode marked the beginning of inspiration for the follow~up to the Mercury Prize~nominated debut album Architect.
••→ The show’s sense of suspense relies heavily and famously on its soundtrack by Bernard Herrmann, and, fear not, whilst the record is in no way a tenuous collection of thriller soundbites, there is certainly an eeriness that looms over it. As The Guardian’s Tim Jonze noted at the time of Architect’s release, Duncan’s choral passages throughout the record were pastoral and wintery — “I’ll Be Gone By Winter” bordered on Christmassy — and there was indeed something cold but comforting about it in its overall production.
••→ In The Midnight Sun, this coldness is given a spectral flare, at some moments permeating crudely but for the most part a subtle motif. Examples of the former include “Like You Do” and the lead single “Wanted To Want It To”, both of which would not be an unwelcome addition on the soundtrack to our generation’s own sci~fi thriller Stranger Things.
••→ This balance in a coherent, stylised sound that departs subtly from the first record is a credit to this artist’s taste and songwriting flair. Classically trained, Duncan has always seemed to exude a sense of knowledge in the effect certain notes and their relationships together cause, and this is true of this offering. Choral style vocals remain prevalent and have a soft blur in the production which couples well with a heavy influx of synths, particularly on tracks such as “On Course”, where voices and keys seem at times indistinguishable.
••→ Produced by himself in his Glasgow flat (the artwork depicts the view from his apartment into the stairwell, painted by Duncan himself and perhaps nodding back to The Twlight Zone episode) the record sounds dazzlingly clean. Although it’s emphasis on coherency may feel amiss to fans of the ecclectic stlye of Architect, there is still a spritz of folk~psychedelia, albeit strechted over more sparse canvases as in “Who Lost” and “Do I Hear”, a surrealist take on a love ballad.
••→ The Midnight Sun is a heavily stylized return that does not fall for crude, archaic sounds to create its spectral atmosphere, but rather relies on timeless rules of composition; much like its predecessor, it is sure to be met with acclaim. ••→ https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/
Review von Alexander Cordas
••→ http://www.laut.de/C-Duncan/Alben/The-Midnight-Sun-100602
Label: https://www.fat-cat.co.uk/
Website: http://c-duncan.co.uk/
Bandcamp: https://cduncan.bandcamp.com/album/the-midnight-sun
♣♣♣______________________________________________________♣♣♣
| C Duncan — The Midnight Sun (October 14, 2016) |
••→ S větší novou live show po celé Evropě v závěsu, C Duncan rozkvetl na úroveň plně vyzrálého živého umělce. Po rychlém sledu hraní v klubově~undergroundovém prostředí teď v průběhu celého roku sám vyprodává sály pro 900 lidí, jeho live show postupují mílovými kroky. Nově je spojen s tříčlennou kapelou, poskytující perfektní kulisu pro jeho tlumené vokály a umožňující vyznít bohatým harmoniím s fascinující přesností. Zpočátku to zkoušel s klavírem a violou, ale hraní s kapelami v jeho dospívání ho přiklonily k učení na kytaru, basu a bicí. Zapsal se na Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (nyní the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) ke studiu hudební kompozice. A jsme zase na na začátku krásného dramatu.
Born: Christopher Duncan in Glasgow. 29 July, 1989
Location: Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Album release: October 14, 2016
Record Label: Fatcat Records
Genre: Indie Singer~Songwriter, Indie Pop
Duration: 43:07
Tracks:
01. Nothing More 3:56
02. Like You Do 4:42
03. Other Side 3:15
04. Wanted To Want It Too 3:58
05. Who Lost 3:37
06. On Course 3:38
07. Last To Leave 3:31
08. Do I Hear? 4:03
09. The Midnight Sun 4:16
10. Jupiter 4:23
11. Window 3:48
℗ 2015 C Duncan under exclusive license to FatCat Records
••→ Glasgow’s prodigious talent C Duncan released his critically acclaimed and Mercury Prize nominated debut full~length ‘Architect’ last July, wrapping up an extremely successful first year with a headline tour and stunning sell~out performance at Union Chapel. Follow up ‘The Midnight Sun’ sees the bedroom producer return with a more expansive and experimental second offering, blending electronic elements and sweeping synth sounds with his signature layered vocals and dreamy instrumentation.
••→ The album borrows its name from a Twilight Zone episode aired in 1961, in which the Earth’s orbit has been perturbed, causing it to fall slowly towards the sun. “’The Midnight Sun’ is one of my favorite episodes,” Duncan muses, “it embodies the style of Twilight Zone perfectly, which is often claustrophobic, mysterious and unnerving. Like Architect, The Midnight Sun was recorded and produced entirely by C Duncan in his Glasgow flat, using his bedroom studio set~up and gradually adding each layer and each instrument one at a time. Though time~consuming, the process allowed him to lovingly assemble an intricate and subtle collection of songs that pick up where Duncan began with Architect and move toward a cleaner and more precise vision of the Scottish songwriter’s vision. Duncan has heralded the new album as his “most coherent and concise work, sonically.”
••→ The album’s artwork, a painting of a dimly lit staircase, is also a piece by C Duncan, who also happens to be a skilled painter. “This being another album made from home, I wanted the artwork to parallel that.” elaborates the artist. “The paintings I have done for it are of interiors ~ the stairwell outside my flat to be precise. I spend a lot of time out there thinking about music, and I wanted there to be a very personal element to the artwork.”
••→ The Midnight Sun is decidedly personal, a testament to why he’s been so lavished with praise in his home country and now, on the precipice of this new release, its clear that Duncan will charm the rest of the world as well.
Review:
By John Bell / 29 SEPTEMBER 2016, 12:15 BST // SCORE: 9
••→ In the episode “The Midnight Sun”, from Rob Serling’s acclaimed 1960s thriller anthology~series The Twilight Zone, an artist and her landlady struggle with the inescapable rising temperature as a result of the Earth being thrown off its elliptical orbit. Warm, sunny landscapes — which are themselves melting — are all the artist can seem to paint as the all~encompassing heat posseses her. Suspense builds as the rising temperature pushes men to to madness, the threat of looting and worse ever~looming.
••→ As a favourite of young Glaswegian C Duncan, this episode marked the beginning of inspiration for the follow~up to the Mercury Prize~nominated debut album Architect.
••→ The show’s sense of suspense relies heavily and famously on its soundtrack by Bernard Herrmann, and, fear not, whilst the record is in no way a tenuous collection of thriller soundbites, there is certainly an eeriness that looms over it. As The Guardian’s Tim Jonze noted at the time of Architect’s release, Duncan’s choral passages throughout the record were pastoral and wintery — “I’ll Be Gone By Winter” bordered on Christmassy — and there was indeed something cold but comforting about it in its overall production.
••→ In The Midnight Sun, this coldness is given a spectral flare, at some moments permeating crudely but for the most part a subtle motif. Examples of the former include “Like You Do” and the lead single “Wanted To Want It To”, both of which would not be an unwelcome addition on the soundtrack to our generation’s own sci~fi thriller Stranger Things.
••→ This balance in a coherent, stylised sound that departs subtly from the first record is a credit to this artist’s taste and songwriting flair. Classically trained, Duncan has always seemed to exude a sense of knowledge in the effect certain notes and their relationships together cause, and this is true of this offering. Choral style vocals remain prevalent and have a soft blur in the production which couples well with a heavy influx of synths, particularly on tracks such as “On Course”, where voices and keys seem at times indistinguishable.
••→ Produced by himself in his Glasgow flat (the artwork depicts the view from his apartment into the stairwell, painted by Duncan himself and perhaps nodding back to The Twlight Zone episode) the record sounds dazzlingly clean. Although it’s emphasis on coherency may feel amiss to fans of the ecclectic stlye of Architect, there is still a spritz of folk~psychedelia, albeit strechted over more sparse canvases as in “Who Lost” and “Do I Hear”, a surrealist take on a love ballad.
••→ The Midnight Sun is a heavily stylized return that does not fall for crude, archaic sounds to create its spectral atmosphere, but rather relies on timeless rules of composition; much like its predecessor, it is sure to be met with acclaim. ••→ https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/
Review von Alexander Cordas
••→ http://www.laut.de/C-Duncan/Alben/The-Midnight-Sun-100602
Label: https://www.fat-cat.co.uk/
Website: http://c-duncan.co.uk/
Bandcamp: https://cduncan.bandcamp.com/album/the-midnight-sun
♣♣♣______________________________________________________♣♣♣