C Duncan

Otherplace At The Basement, Kensington Gardens, Brighton, Wednesday, November 4

THE media interest currently surrounding Christopher Duncan is a marked contrast to the year he spent locked away in his Glasgow flat making his gorgeous debut album Architect.

The album, which is released on Brighton-based FatCat Records, was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize 2015 a couple of weeks ago – and he has seen his workload increase ever since.

“It’s very exciting,” he says. “I was told a couple of days before as they needed to make sure I was around so Lauren Laverne could call me [she announced the award nominees on her BBC Radio 6Music show earlier this month].

“I did arrange for everyone to go to a celebration drinks on Friday night but didn’t tell anyone what it was about!”

Architect is a lush and beautiful affair – built on soft acoustic guitar lines, but augmented with choirs of layered harmony vocals, patterned electronic drums and strings.

There is more than a touch of Beach Boy Brian Wilson’s teenage symphonies – especially on tracks like He Believes In Miracles with its vibraphone and call and response vocals.

It underlines Duncan’s time spent studying composition at the Royal Scottish Academy Of Music And Drama.

“A lot of the recording was the same as how I would go about making a classical music, except with guitars and drums,” says Duncan, who was born to two classical musicians.

“I have been writing pop songs since I was 13 or 14 – I was still doing that while I was studying at college taking classical music.

“I was going to do an MA and Phd in composition, but I had a year out and realised this was what I wanted to do now. Hopefully I will start writing classical music again at some point – I never intended things to work out this way!”

Having grown up listening to his parents classical music his first exploration of other music as a teenager was heavy rock.

He points to buying his first Bjork and Radiohead records as when he became interested in alternative music.

“I liked that they were really well thought out and put together like a classical piece,” he says. “Everything I listen to and am interested in does make its way into the music.

“Often I wanted to see how many layers I could build on in this album before it sounded messy.

“When I was recording in my bedroom I had to be careful about not overloading things and overdoing them, otherwise it would sound mushy. I did want to see how each track would sound like with ten layers of vocal harmonies and guitar parts on them!”

Indeed on closing track I’ll Be Gone By Winter Duncan’s voice is so multi-tracked it is like he is part of a choir.

Elsewhere, as on the single Garden, there are echoes of the perfect pop orchestration of Saint Etienne and Mars Audiac Quintet-period Sterolab.

Which obviously creates challenges when it comes to recreating the album live.

“I did one or two shows by myself but it didn’t feel live enough,” says Duncan. “I have a four-piece of guitar, keyboards, bass and drums – we’re getting there with recreating the album live on stage – we’ve managed to get all the harmonies.”

He is particularly enjoying having live drums – having been forced to use sampled handclaps and drum machines through necessity in his Glasgow flat.

“I do think with the kinds of music I write I like having limitations,” he says. “I like the challenge of it. It shapes where the music is going. If I had access to everything and could do anything then I would find it a lot harder to write the songs.”

As well as his career as a songwriter Duncan is also a respected visual artist.

Architect is the first time the two disciplines have collided, with his aerial views of Glasgow providing the album artwork.

“I have always painted while making music,” he says.

“The pieces are about a sense of place and different perspective. I’m really interested in the detail and straight lines and repetition.”

He is performing his Brighton show on a break from supporting Lucy Rose on her UK tour.

And he has already started on the follow-up to Architect.

“I’m hoping to get it finished over the next few months,” he says. “I’m still recording in my flat, but with new equipment. The songs are all going to be different from Architect, I’m not going down a different route, they just feel different. It’s hard to describe.

“If we get a chance to go into the studio and show them to the band we might get a couple in the live show.”

Doors 7.30pm, tickets £7/£9. Call 01273 606312.