Scottish singer-songwriter Amy Duncan has announced details of her new album titled ‘Cocoon’, which is due for release on November 26 via Filly Records.
Described as blending warm yet minimal folk and electronica sounds with intimate vocals, Cocoon was recorded in Edinburgh with producer-engineer Cameron Malcolm, who produced Paul Buchanan of The Blue Nile’s 2012 solo album Mid Air. Cameron is the son of Buchanan’s Blue Nile bandmate Calum Malcolm, one of the UK’s foremost studio engineers/producers who also produced Duncan’s albums Cycles Of Life (2013), Undercurrents (2016) and Anitidote (2017).
Cycles of Life was released on The Blue Nile’s label Linn Records and was a Featured Album of the Month on Folk Radio. The album was described by Neil McFadyen as “a progressively positive, and ultimately hope-filled, experience”, while with Undercurrents, her 2016 follow-up, he declares, “…Amy Duncan takes us beneath the visible surface, beyond our immediate perception, to the myriad, unpredictable depths.” Funded via Pledge Music, her last album, Antidote, continued in that upward trajectory which no doubt places high expectations upon Cocoon.
Rather than let the words do the talking, Duncan also releases her lead single, ‘A Door Is Opening’ today. She explains, “The songs from the Cocoon came out of the experience of the pandemic, and A Door is Opening is about the momentous feeling of leaving the house for a walk during lockdown,” explains Duncan. “The simple action of opening the door and stepping out felt like a special occasion, knowing that it was the only choice to make.”
There’s a suppressed calmness to her voice that amplifies that mix of joy and trepidation as we stepped outside again while there’s an unmistakable joy that lifts the song through bright melodic synths and sparkling percussion. Those same emotions are brilliantly conveyed in the cover artwork photography for the single.
Duncan will launch Cocoon with a special show at The Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh on November 21, which will also be live-streamed.
Tickets on sale now: Physical / Livestream
She has also confirmed three shows for Spring 2022:
19 April 2022 London, The Green Note
21 April 2022 Bath, Chapel Arts Centre
23 April 2022 Corsham, Pound Arts Centre
More here: https://amyduncan.co.uk/