We meet Glaswegian Singer/Songwriter and composer Christopher Duncan aka C Duncan. He fills us in about his childhood influences and tells us why he has so much love for Björk.
All of C Duncan’s singles from Debut Album ‘Architect’ Out Now have enjoyed high praise across press and radio. BBC Radio 2’s Jo Whiley, BBC 6Music’s Chris Hawkins, Huey Morgan, Mary Anne Hobbs, Don Letts, Gideon Coe, Tom Ravenscroft, Nemone, Radcliffe and Maconie, Guy Garvey, Tom Robinson, Steve Lamacq, Jim Gellatly (XFM), Dave Rowntree (Radio X) are all firm supporters. The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Line of Best Fit, The Quietus, NME, Stereogum, Les Inrockuptibles (among plenty of others) have all featured Christopher’s music. The singles were playlisted on BBC 6Music (including an A-list for ‘Garden’), Amazing Radio and European radio networks.
Architect showcases a huge breadth in songwriting abilities. Lead singles ‘Say’ and ‘For’ are characterised by their gentleness and warmth, while ‘Garden’ is bright, sunny, irrepressible. On the other side, ‘By’ and ‘Novices’ draw more overtly from Christopher’s interest in electronic music and modern composition. He references The Knife and Arvo Pärt as willingly as Burt Bacharach and The Carpenters. Add to that shades of Talk Talk, Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear, The Ink Spots and the classical and choral compositions of Maurice Ravel and Gabriel Fauré, and a picture of the record collection that informs Christopher’s music starts to become clear.
Christopher wrote and recorded his album alone in his Glasgow flat on a bedroom studio setup, gradually adding each layer and each instrument one at a time, building up the breadth of the pieces. Though time-consuming, the process allowed for Christopher to lovingly assemble the intricacies and subtleties for this astonishingly intricate and subtle collection of music. As a composer, he is classically trained, graduating from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland – another influence clearly visible in his songwriting, in its fully-formed textures and meticulously crafted arrangements.
The son of two classical musicians, Christopher was drawn so persuasively to indie and alternative music and playing in school bands as a teen that he added guitar, bass guitar and drums to his existing repertoire of viola and piano, studying all five instruments at the same time.
‘Architect’ by C Duncan from the LP/CD/Digital ‘Architect’ available on Fat Cat Records.
To buy this record, merch, and more, visit http://www.fat-cat.co.uk
