Domino Records have just released, Diamond Mine, a beautiful album combining the idiosyncratic talents of artists, King Creosote and Jon Hopkins.
King Creosote (aka Kenny Anderson) has ,since 1995, been one of the prime movers and shakers behind the Fence Records which, according to its website, is an outlet for “a collective of musicians, artists, craftsfolk, chancers and slackers based in Fife, Scotland”.
Hopkins is a Londoner and classically trained pianist who is better known for his electronica and dance music through projects with names like Brian Eno, Four Tet and ….erm…Coldplay. One on his most recent works was a David Lynch remix called I Know.
Diamond Mine features lyrics and languid vocals from King Creosote with piano, field recordings and general ambience provided by Jon Hopkins .
The whole thing was recorded over a number of years without the pressure of deadlines.
The press release calls the album “a near classical suite of emotion ranging from cracked despair to patched-up euphoria”. KC describes it as a ‘soundtrack to a romanticised version of a life lived in a scottish coastal village’.
It has just seven tunes and only lasts around 32 minutes but the quality more than makes up for the quantity and it has the sound and feel of an instant classic.
Highly recommended.
