The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMusicAlbum reviews

King Creosote – Astronaut Meets Appleman

King Creosote – Astronaut Meets Appleman | Album Review
8 September 2016
Molly Lempriere
Avatar
Molly Lempriere
8 September 2016

Music review

Molly Lempriere

Astronaut Meets Appleman

★★★★★

Release date

2nd September 2016

Highlights

Melin Wynt, Faux Call, Slow Fade

Links

Twitter Facebook Website

Astronaut Meets Appleman has a lot to live up to coming after King Creosote’s breakthrough album From Scotland with Love (2014), as well as his Mercury nominated collaboration with Jon Hopkins, Diamond Mine (2011). But this lush and conflicted record lives up to expectations, harking back to traditional Scottish folk but with the occasional modern twist.

Starting with the seven-minute-long hymnal that is You Just Want, this is a mellow and spacious track that seems to exemplify the feeling of the album as a whole in many ways. King Creosote, aka Kenny Anderson from Fife, presents his torments through a mix of instruments but also through his method of recording, using studios in County Down, the Isle of Mull and Glasgow in order to combine analogue and digital. In doing so he seems to have hit a perfect balance, allowing rough edges and polish to coincide, calling on tradition and innovation.

This versatile approach is continued through the range of instruments that wind around Anderson’s uniquely fay vocals. In the likes of Faux Call, there is a beautiful, resonant cello opening, with such simple and clear drums and bass that they allow the cello space to breath, to expand and flow in an absorbing fashion. Beginning “I’m so sorry I let you down again”, the cello gives way to Kenny’s melancholic list of wishes and apologies, the depth of its sound fitting like a glove to the lyrics.

Moving on through the album, Surface contains a rare bagpipe solo, just one of the traditional Scottish elements King Creosote proudly uses throughout. A highlight of this usage is Rules of Engagement, a subtle and vast sea shanty that swells with its combination of harp, accordion and more cello, which again proves the songwriter’s ability to balance melodies that allow each aspect of a song importance.

From the start to The Long Fade, which fittingly finishes the record and leaves us with a “long silence”, this is a beautifully crafted album, that cements King Creosote as one of today’s finest folk musicians.

★★★★★

Molly Lempriere

Astronaut Meets Appleman is released on the 2nd of September 2016, for further information or to order the album visit here.

Watch the video for You Just Want here:

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Related Itemsreview

More in Album reviews

Postdata – Twin Flames

★★★★★
Mark Worgan
Read More

Maximo Park – Nature Always Wins

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper

★★★★★
Dan Meier
Read More

Julien Baker – Little Oblivions

★★★★★
Mae Trumata
Read More

Smith & Burrows – Only Smith & Burrows Is Good Enough

★★★★★
Catherine Sedgwick
Read More

Bradford – Bright Hours

★★★★★
Mark Worgan
Read More

Edie Brickell & New Bohemians – Hunter and the Dog Star

★★★★★
Francis Nash
Read More

Mogwai – As the Love Continues

★★★★★
Mark Worgan
Read More

David Gray – Skellig

★★★★★
Catherine Sedgwick
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Music review

Molly Lempriere

Astronaut Meets Appleman

★★★★★

Release date

2nd September 2016

Highlights

Melin Wynt, Faux Call, Slow Fade

Links

Twitter Facebook Website

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Maximo Park – Nature Always Wins
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • I’m Your Man (Ich bin dein Mensch)
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • Black Bear
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Your Honor
    ★★★★★
    sky
  • Spotlight: Lauren Everet and Soup Kitchen London, striving for food security and social equality
    Food & Drinks
  • Petite Maman
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • Celebrate International Women’s Day with a Bombay Sapphire Cocktails & Create masterclass
    Food & Drinks
  • Postdata – Twin Flames
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Late Night Staring at High Res Pixels
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Daniel Brühl on his directorial debut Next Door: “It was magical; I didn’t get a ‘no’ from anyone.”
    Berlinale
  • Moxie
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Souad
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • We (Nous)
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • Bicep at Saatchi Gallery Online
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Winter Lake
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

September’s Hottest Pop-ups
Unity Rocks: The Libertines at Brixton Academy | Live review