The Midnight Sun (C Duncan Album)

''The Midnight Sun'' is the second studio album of Scottish composer and dream pop musician Christopher Duncan, known by his moniker C Duncan. While recorded by Duncan in the same bedroom studio as his previous album, ''Architect'' (2015), as well as having the same baroque pop sound, ''The Midnight Sun'' has a more polished sound due to Duncan upgrading his studio, contains more electronic music elements, is more consistent stylistically, and has a darker tone and atmosphere inspired by Rod Serling's television ''The Twilight Zone''. Released in October 2016 by FatCat Records, it landed at number 28 on the Scottish Albums Chart, was well received by critics and was a shortlist nominee for the Scottish Album of the Year Award.

Production

Duncan said that shortly after the release of his first album ''Architect'' (2015), he wanted to finish a second album quickly simply to keep busy with tours: "I thought I might as well just get the ideas down for the second album when they came, instead of wasting time for the sake of it." Like ''Architect'', ''The Midnight Sun'' was written and produced by Duncan in his Glasgow bedroom studio. Due to his experience learning recording equipment with ''Architect'', which took more than a year to finish, Duncan was able to complete ''The Midnight Sun'' in only three months.

Duncan initially planned for his second record to be a Burt Bacharach-esque easy listening album, where he used a more professional studio and hired a string quartet. However, in the end, he decided to record in the same studio as the one used for ''Architect'' at the same low budget: "I got so used to having really limited access to things. So I wanted to do that for the second album, but without it sounding he same"

''The Midnight Sun'' has a more polished sound due to Duncan upgrading the equipment he used after completing ''Architect''. He upgraded his MacBook, the audio interface he used, where he went from a TASCAM US-122 he used for ten years to Focusrite's Clarett 2Pre interface, and the monitor he mixed on, going from RHA headphones to KRK VXT4 monitors.Robertson, Derek (16 November 2016)
"Planet Gear: C Duncan / In Depth"
. ''Drowned in Sound''. Retrieved 24 June 2018. He received both the Clarett 2Pre and the KRK VXT4 monitors via a deal Focusrite made with Duncan to appear in one of the company's promotional videos.

"Do I Hear" was originally composed as a classical piece he composed for soprano voice in 2014 before he arranged and recorded it in the style of ''The Midnight Sun''.

Music

As with ''Architect'', ''The Midnight Sun'' is a dreamlike baroque pop recordBell, John (3 March 2017)
"C Duncan // Interview"
'' London in Stereo''. Retrieved 17 June 2018. with many moments of layers of Duncan's voice executing harmonies. However, ''The Midnight Sun'' has a more polished sound due to Duncan upgrading the studio after completing ''Architect'', is more electronic as it incorporates more synthesizers,Hawthorne, Katie (30 September 2016)
"Natural Phenomenon: C Duncan Interviewed"
'' The Skinny''. Retrieved 22 June 2018. includes more tinges of contemporary jazz,Goodger, Louise (9 November 2016)
"C Duncan ‘The Midnight Sun’"
''Gigsoup''. Retrieved 12 July 2018. and features more complex percussion. Duncan claimed he put hidden compositional references to other songs on ''The Midnight Sun'': the pitch of "The Last to Leave"'s melody follows the direction of "Edelweiss," a show tune from ''The Sound of Music'', and Duncan used elements of the melodies in William Walton's piece ''Belshazzar's Feast'' for the songs "Who Lost" and "Jupiter." Juan Edgardo Rodriguez of ''PopMatters'' called the album more pop-oriented than ''Architect'', which he compared to Kevin Parker's direction into pop on his Tame Impala album ''Currents'' (2015), and noted that Duncan plays around with elements of pop on the album.

''The Midnight Sun'' was inspired by the atmosphere and format of Rod Serling's television ''The Twilight Zone'', which is why the album is titled after the tenth episode of the show's third season."The Midnight Sun"
FatCat Records Official Website. Retrieved 29 April 2018. ''The Twilight Zone'' inspired Duncan to make an "anthology series styled album" where, despite each song being different conceptually, the atmospheres and styles of each songs connect together, creating a cohesive listen. This departed from his previous album ''Architect'' (2015), which mixed together elements from a bunch of genres and, to Duncan, felt like a "collection of songs" rather than an actual LP. In terms of tone, ''The Midnight Sun'' is also more ominous than ''Architect''. The place Duncan was living in while he made the album was Glasgow, where during the summer, nighttime lasts for only three to four hours. This had a "claustrophobic, mysterious and unnerving" effect on his mental state that he related to the tone of ''The Twilight Zone'', so he incorporated that into ''The Midnight Sun''.

Lyrics

''The Midnight Sun'''s dark character is further enforced by its lyrics, which deal with relationship issues, depression, and other situations Duncan went through. "Like You Do" is a song about a depression that one of Duncan's friends was suffering from while he recorded the album.Day, Laurence (6 October 2016)
"Track By Track: C Duncan on The Midnight Sun"
''The Line of Best Fit''. Retrieved 24 June 2018. The themes of "Other Side" were influenced by his desire to be outside of his hometown as a result of enjoying his experience touring other nations. "Who Lost" is a song about other people in someone's life making his rivalry between him and a sibling pointless. It is based on Duncan's childhood experiences with his brother. "Last to Leave" is, according to Duncan, a map of a failed relationship he had with a former partner. Duncan said "Do I Hear" is about getting into someone else's lifestyle while "being yourself and coping with and embracing your quirks, sexuality, and character." "Jupiter," in Duncan's word, is a "romanticised" version of a "strange" experience he had in a gay boat party he went to after performing in Hamburg in 2015; he called it "a euphoric song, yet slimy and unnerving." The LP closes with "Window," a realization that someone feels better once he's figured out his problems.

Artwork

Duncan painted the cover art for ''The Midnight Sun'' in between making each track. The artwork is a painting of a stairwell in his flat, and he spent "fifteen times a day" viewing the stairwell he was painting. According to him, "it was all about what interested me whilst making and recording music myself."

Promotion

The lead single of ''The Midnight Sun'' was "Wanted To Want It Too," issued on 3 August 2016. On 2 September 2016, ''The 405'' premiered the video for the song which was directed by Helen Plumb.Caston Cook, William (2 September 2016)
"C Duncan Wanted To Want It Too [405 Premiere]"
''The 405''. Retrieved 24 June 2018. It depicts a masked "heart stealer" that symbolically represents the emotions a person has when they got out into the night. Plumb also directed the videos for "Other Side" and "Like You Do." The single for "Other Side" was issued on 2 December 2016, and its video was released on 12 December 2016. The video stars artist Rondi Park as a woman who puts on various dresses to escape reality.Martin, Bronte (12 December 2016)
"Watch C Duncan's escapist new video for "Other Side""
''Earmilk''. Retrieved 13 July 2018. "Like You Do" was released as a single on 17 March 2017, with "Nothing at All" as its B-side, and ''Nothing but Hope and Passion'' premiered the video for it on 30 March 2017. The video consists of "simple" footage of Duncan being distorted."Video Premiere: C Duncan’s hypnotic ‘Like You Do’ is a comforting dream pop pillow"
''Nothing but Hope and Passion''. 30 March 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2018. On 11 October 2016, ''PopMatters'' premiered a video of a live performance of "Do I Hear" by Duncan and his backing band at the Cottiers venue in Glasgow, filmed by Plumb and Ben Cox.

Reception

''The Midnight Sun'' was generally praised by critics, numerous reviewers spotlighting the album's huge detail in the sound design and composition.Whitfield, Robert (17 October 2016)
"C Duncan – The Midnight Sun"
''The 405''. Retrieved 12 July 2018.Cocks, Helen (9 October 2016)
"C Duncan: The Midnight Sun"
''The Quietus''. Retrieved 12 July 2018. A ten-out-of-ten review of ''The Midnight Sun'' from the webzine ''God is in the TV'' highlighted the album's "emotional core," where its mysterious tone is "led by the soul’s need for resolution," claiming, "what makes ''The Midnight Sun'' so utterly compelling is its spontaneous nature and unmatched beauty, which is in many ways much like life-itself." AllMusic praised ''The Midnight Sun'' for having "significantly bolder strokes" than ''Architect'' and that it "rewards a patient ear and an open heart," and ''Gigsoup'' praised the album's "transcendence of genre." ''The Quietus'' claimed, " uncanwrites melodies you feel you’ve always known, harmonies that satisfy your ears and cadences that strike with and at your heart. If anything, this album is better than his first, as he settles confidently on his recognisable but versatile sound."

''musicOMH'' praised the LP for being "carefully and painstakingly thought out" like ''Architect'' while making this task sound "effortless," and Rodríguez wrote that it has "an asset that allows uncanto interlace all kinds of sonic and tangible elements without dismissing his prominent folk leanings." ''The Guardian'' claimed ''The Midnight Sun'' had "a spirituality that, in a year of bold musical statements and political upheaval, provides a soothing tonic; an escapist episode of spectacular beauty." A mixed review by Billy Hamilton of '' Under the Radar'' found the tracks to only be "subtle variations of the same song," opining the album was mostly "lush and immersive" and little else. ''The 405'' Robert Whitfield criticized the LP's atmospheric elements for getting in the way of the lyrics and vocals: "C Duncan’s vocals are often buried under so many layers that what message or meaning he wishes to communicate is lost. Ultimately it means that The Midnight Sun is more of an atmospheric experience, than an emotive one."

''The Midnight Sun'' made it to the shortlist of the 2017 Scottish Album of the Year Award, an annual award that honors records made by Scottish artists, but lost to the LP ''Strike a Match'' (2016) by the rock band Sacred Paws. In terms of year-end lists from publications, the album was number 36 on a list of the best albums by ''Under the Radar'' and number 7 on ''God is in the TV'''s list.

Track listing

Track lengths derived from the iTunes Store."The Midnight Sun by C Duncan"
iTunes Store. Retrieved 16 June 2018.

Release history

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Midnight Sun, The (C Duncan album)
2016 albums
C Duncan albums
Baroque pop albums
FatCat Records albums
Albums recorded in a home studio