King Creosote is grappling with the old and new on his storming new album ‘Astronaut Meets Appleman’.
“It doesn’t matter how much we strive for this digital utopia, there’s always this other thing that bites us on the ass, and it’s real life. It’s people. It’s mistakes.” There’s no solace from the world on that blinking screen you hold in your hand and SO dear to your heart; the paradox of this modern day fight between the tension (and harmony) of tradition and technology envelopes the whole of this record.
This “fight” has seemingly been the catalyst behind the production of this dazzling array of nine songs that stretch the length and breadth of ‘Astronaut Meets Appleman.’ The listener fighting; equally wrought and strung out by the possibilities of continuing their metaphorical bedroom dalliances with their technological products, or whether to smash them into smithereens.
You listen, you decide.
Fife’s Kenny Anderson, a.k.a King Creosote, talked about his desire to go into the studio to make this record with a blank page, a blank canvas, if you will. Anderson, it seems, was searching for a little innocence; “I wanted to try and flip the clock all the way back to sound like a younger me – or a less cynical me.”
Did KC achieve this desire? The proof is in the pudding.
“Life is a whole lot safer underground, why would I ever surface again?” he laments on ‘Surface, the cynicism hasn’t dissipated and the world below the surface is still a better, more appealing option. Much better to throw your tablet against the wall, place the vinyl on the turntable and put your feet up and immerse yourself in ‘Astronaut Meets Appleman.’ The lo-fi production lends itself to the listening experience of years gone by. KC, our plaintive troubadour, leads us through life like a semi-modern Pied Piper of Hamlin. Take the shovel and dig.
Every track here is a postcard from the edge of emotion: “A true loves arrow aimed right at her eye/and yet she can barely squint into mine.” Not only the raw emotion of the words, but the melancholic nature of the words gripping our soul. The lilting Scottish brogue of Anderson only adding to the likelihood of our descent into the world of all things KC.
However disjointed this record can sometimes feel, the numerous styles, differing voices and varying instruments conjure up a Celtic masterpiece of the before and very much the now. He’s found an adequate home in Domino Records. A label with the ability to let him organically develop any record within his own time-frame. There are no time-lines and no stipulations. And, because of this, ‘Astronaut Meets Appleman’ has evolved, now foisted upon the listening world.
“When you just want someone more for their being and not so much for their brains,” he sings on opening track ‘You Just Want’. KC can do it, the physical and mental aptitude.
You’ll love them both.
