King Creosote has been a favorite artist of mine since I first heard his Diamond Mine collaboration with Jon Hopkins back when I was in high school. That album was nominated for a Mercury prize and the Scottish Album of the Year Award – only as far back as 2011. After listening through hundreds of times, I started to expand and get around to listening to his discography. A renowned Scottish folk-acoustic artist, Creosote has a bright energy about him – even though his songs are often so depressing. It’s an intimacy that I think is unique to him in today’s neo-folk music, and so when I heard about the new release of Astronaut and Appleman, I checked it out immediately.
Right off the bat, this record feels like the work of several musicians. It’s not as singular is Diamond Mind – or even From Scotland with Love – here we’ve got multiple instruments, parts, and vocalists. The focus isn’t always on Creosote, which I think lends some tracks to more of a five-piece-band sound. Bagpipes are the most unexpected part of this new sound Creosote is toting, but I think it works well to recall the heart of the artist’s music. The whole album feels like a return to Creosote’s origins, when he was a far more unknown folk artist. It’s a refined sound, and it makes me happy to see the artist still working just as hard as before he ‘broke out’.
Certain tracks really take off in the record – specifically, “Melin Wynt” and “Surface” I thought provided the most momentum to the listener. Then there is the more experimental track “Peter Rabbit Tea” which I felt was a little out-of-place, but also left me curious about its origin. Most the tracks work well together though – it’s a little bit of everything in this one from Creosote, almost like a retrospective of his most recent explorations.
The album itself is great –it’s a setlist for a laidback sunny day, watching the clouds move across the sky and feeling a slightly chilly breeze. Creosote’s passion for his country and culture, as always, rings true. After 40 years of producing music, the artist has proved that he still has some surprises up his sleeve. It’ll be exciting to keep an eye on Creosote’s projects in the future. His projects have always been fascinating and heartfelt; I look forward to whatever’s next for this fantastic Scottish artist.
