C Duncan, the Scottish musician and composer author of pastoral pop wonders like ‘Say’ and ‘Other Side’, has given the details of his fifth album, ‘It’s Only a Love Song’, which goes on sale on December 24. January. The album is on sale through Bella Union, a label associated with artists such as Beach House, Father John Misty and Susanne Sundfør.
The mention of Father John Misty is timely, as Josh Tillman has just released a great album on Bella Union, ‘Mahashmashana’, and C Duncan’s album will follow a similar style. Duncan, who received a Mercury Prize nomination for his 2015 debut, ‘Architect’, knows what he’s doing.
Duncan has filled ‘It’s Only a Love Song’ with string arrangements, his usual vocal harmonies and “rapturous imagery”, and the result is an album, in his words, “unashamedly romantic and a little old-fashioned”. ‘Delirium’, the second preview, is today’s Song Of The Day.
Written in an American style, ‘Delirium’ is a new banquet of vocal harmonies sung by the angels themselves that lead to that very thing, delirium. While “the world burns”, Duncan wraps himself in luxurious choirs and violins to escape – fly – to a better place, even if it is not true.
This is how Duncan explains it: «’Delirium, as its name suggests, is about confusion and exhaustion. It talks about finding relief in a state of delirium. There are things that cannot be moved or changed, so why not surrender to them, no matter how precarious they are.
