The music of C Duncan is absolutely breathtaking in its beauty. The sort of thing that causes a listener to ask, "Why the hell haven't I heard this guy before?", the compositions on the newest album from this Glasgow musician are some of the best things I've heard all year so far. And while it's only May, I will guess that Alluvium, out now on digital platforms via Bella Union, is a lock for a spot on my Top 20 Albums of 2022 list in 7 months' time.
Opener "Air" feels like something from a soundtrack, while "Heaven" touches on Eighties synth-pop for its inspiration. Elsewhere, "We Have a Lifetime" marries chamber pop with an almost Bacharach-like melodic sense. If current single "Bell Toll" recalls both The Moody Blues and The Left Banke, it's also wildly iconoclastic indie. Commanding a hook with the deftness of those Sixties stalwarts, C Duncacn ornaments things in such a way that the overall presentation threatens to overwhelm the senses. The tunes like this one are not just catchy, they are intoxicating, the promises of Pop perfected.
At his very best, like on the shimmering "Pretending", C Duncan reveals that there's a way to blend the symphonic tendencies of High Llamas with a more urgent and direct style of songcraft. Duncan makes all of this positively elegant, but he turns up the heat a bit when necessary, such that some of the numbers here, like this one, very nearly soar into the atmosphere. "I Tried", on the other hand, is as good and catchy as anything on The Nylon Curtain (a criminally-underrated record in case you're in doubt). The title cut, meanwhile, nods in the direction of Roxy Music and Dario Argento soundtracks simultaneously. The melody is as creepy as it is pristinely realized, while the lush "Earth" is more ELO and Al Stewart than anything else. Rarely does C Duncan take a misstep here, and while there are moments that feel like tributes to any of the acts I've referenced above, they're never hamfisted or forced. C Duncan has such a command of this material that the production and orchestration choices seem positively brilliant. It doesn't hurt too that the material is haunting and lovely throughout.
Alluvium is out digitally via Bella Union now.