Album Review: C Duncan and his magnum opus

You never feel that you would ever really ever get the likes of Michael Jackson, Prince, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Thom Yorke, Bjork and Amy Winehouse.

So would C Duncan's evolution from the shy, yes slightly introverted, man-boy son of two classical musicians to the more confident Mercury-nominated artist who wants to be more direct succumb to overfamiliarity?

The answer is 'no'.

The opening track on his third album, Talk Talk Talk, is everything that makes Duncan's music so uplifting. While this synth pop gem is out of sync musically from the more mood music of Mercury-nominated Architect, with a backing track that would not look out of place on a Django Django album, it is the signature cutting melodies, his ear for a quirky twist, and a gorgeous hooksome middle eight that makes this explode.

Much has been made of the Glasgow musican breaking free from the bedroom and entering the real world of studios and other producers for this third album with a narrative that says he is opening his mind to other, perhaps greater possibilities.

READ MORE: CD Review: C Duncan, Architect (Fatcat Records)

Yet the second track Wrong Side Of The Door, which slows the right pace down, is the kind of beautiful Carpenters-esque sensuality that the 29-year-old with a degree in composition from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, was producing in his bedroom. But while Duncan may have shrouded his sentiment in ambiguity, here he hits home with an eloquently constructed tale of a relationship breaking apart.

We are brought more upbeat again with the addictive Impossible, one of the early tasters of the album, which takes its heartbeat from the opener yet tells of the difficulties of a distance relationship.

Neither is there ambiguity in the fact he is writing about his life as a gay man.

Written around the time of the anti-gay purges in Chechnya, the dazzling He Came From the Sun muses on his own life and experience of coming out. It is exquisitely crafted musically and laid bare emotionally.

While a cursory listen to Duncan's less uptempo constructions might make you feel it is veering into elevator music territory, a more focussed ear reveals bountiful nuggets of delight and romanticism.

So when over the most airy backing on He Came From The Sun he coos "it's bittersweet how short the time, since I was old enough to tell the world, who I really am, who I really am", it is a caterpillar to butterfly moment that would move the hardest of souls.

The second half of this seductive 44 minutes places Duncan away from his more instant synth pop experiments but still mixes the reflective with the buoyant.

It is ushered in by the the twinkling title track with its Talk Talk nuances, moves through to the jazzy gem Blase', into the smooth textures of Reverie, the samba-tastic Pulses and Rain and the ooh-some Stuck Here With You.

Finally there is the exquisite closer, the treasure of a two minutes that is Care, complete with sparing but cute piano backing, an angelic choral masterclass and hallmarks of a church hymn without God.

If his masterpiece Architect was sublimely introverted and sparse but enigmatic and mysterious, and his second album The Midnight Sun was a consolidation, Health is Duncan opening up to everything while remaining in total control and sounding at his most content, playful, confident and accomplished.

It is an enchanting comfort blanket of an album to be placed on repeat play and another pièce de résistance.