C Duncan was certainly one of the standout acts to come out of 2015’s wealth of music. Releasing his debut album to a critically-accliamed reception on FatCat Records, Architect rightfully won itself a spot on the Mercury Prize shortlist along with the likes of Aphex Twin, Gaz Coombes, Jamie XX and of course winner Benjamin Clementine. Apart from sounding utterly delicious from beginning to end, the album was completely recorded by Christopher Duncan himself and all in his bedroom up in Glasgow. Believe it – the quaint ghostly harmonies, the delicate drum patterns and all the intricate arrangements and instrumentation were produced and recorded in a room that had a bed in it. Of course, this brilliance and success brings with it expectations and pressure for the sophomore effort.
The difficult second album sees C Duncan return to where he made his first, albeit with an upgraded set-up but still only relying on himself as singer and instrumentalist. He has cited The Twilight Zone (Rod Serling’s 1960s original series) as his initial idea for The Midnight Sun, the name taken from one of his favourite episodes. Duncan states, “I wanted to … create something that is almost an anthology series styled album, in which all the tracks tie together stylistically without being one big conceptual record.” The album also sees C Duncan follow up with a far more experimental offering, bringing together electronic ideas with his typically dreamy signature. This is an artist evolving, given the freedom to develop his sound and craft for all of us to hear.
The opening track has taken an idea first done by 10CC with ‘I’m Not In Love’; the songs melody made up by layers of Duncan’s ethereal voice (a motif used throughout the album). With the introduction of sweeping synth tones as well as a simple and almost military drum beat to ‘Nothing More’, the song rises high into the roofs of heavens, becoming ever more intense and dramatic until its mid-point before dissipating back down to a calm level. The pulsing keyboard sound in ‘Like You Do’ and the glistening airiness in ‘Other Side’ are the chilling sounds of a white winter – the icy nature to Duncan’s music evoking the images of wispy snowflakes in a billowy blizzard.
A deep brooding syncopated synth bubbles through ‘Wanted To Want It Too’ adding to the mystery brought on by eerie futuristic chords, alluding to Duncan’s new fancy for electronic music. ‘On Course’ sees an elegant step into synthpop, a track that is completely different from Architect yet as fascinating as any of his songs prior – Duncan creates a full choir of himself, producing soft angelic harmonies that builds to a cinematic scale. Gone are the clean sounds of acoustic instruments that worked so well on his debut, enter the new, uncharted, ambitious terrain which gives The Midnight Sun a far more up-to-date feel than its predecessor. This has by no means taken anything away from the meticulous, inventive and polished sound that we have become used to.
Fifteen months since we were all introduced to this unprecedented talent and C Duncan has entered the twilight zone, creating an album that no one could have predicted. The painstaking attention to detail in production is close to unbelievable, with each track being completely cohesive with one another and sounding perfectly natural. The Midnight Sun may not have a wealth of typical singles which the debut had in abundance, but it has shown us the breadth to C Duncan’s musical mind. This is a truly bold second album that I’m sure will win him many fans and lose him a few, but it has made me absurdly excited for what is to come in his next release.
Iain Lauder
Website: C-Duncan.co.uk
Facebook: facebook.com/mrChrisDuncan
Twitter: twitter.com/mrChrisDuncan
Read our interview with C Duncan here: brightonsfinest.com/html/index.php/12-music/784-c-duncan-architect