C Duncan - The Midnight Sun

Bedroom composer and artist Christopher Duncan's Architect was certainly one of my hot picks from last year's list of Mercury Prize nominated albums, and was impressed by how effortlessly it transferred to a live performance at Norwich Arts Centre last April.

That may prove more challenging with its ambitious follow-up, The Midnight Sun. Quite simply, Duncan has taken his recording and production skills to the next level and created an album that is much more cohesive and flowing than its predecessor. Taking its title from an episode of the cult 1960's sci-fi series The Twilight Zone, each track is painstakingly and meticulously built up layer by layer until we have a work of truly cinematic dimensions. Whilst science fiction may have been the reference point, tracks like Last to Leave clearly draw from great screen musicals of the period, and both the title track and Do I Hear? employ panoramic  soundscapes reminiscent of Goldfrapp's more pastoral albums. Duncan's ethereal vocals follow where once the breathy and operatic refrains of Alison Goldfrapp would soar over Will Gregory's synthesiser arrangements.

This is a classy and accomplished collection that has rapidly become one of my favourite albums of 2016.