Album review: King Creosote

King Creosote
Bombshell

Label: Names / 679 Recordings
Release date: 10th September 2007

Website: http://www.kingcreosote.com/


Rating: 3.5 out of 5


Banish all thoughts of The Proclaimers, all ye who enter here. Fife-based singer and Fence Collective kingpin Kenny Anderson, aka King Creosote, is here to make Scottish folk music popular again.

Bombshell is being positioned as a sort of crossover album and it’s surprisingly easy to see this record doing well in a mainstream kind of way. The album is a well-balanced combination of haunting balladry and jaunty modern pop-folk, furthering the blueprint of Scot fringe-folk and confirming that, in terms of raw talent, Scotland is truly where it’s at.

Leslie, Now Drop Your Bombshell and Church As Witness are works of heart-rending simplicity and all possess and innate Scottishness; an emotional desolation that echoes the stark beauty of the landscape.

But it’s not all stoic Highland miserablism. Home In A Sentence is a soaring showcase of Anderson’s vocal talents while You’ve No Clue Do You, a stinging invective set to rollicking drums and guitars, features brilliant chiming harmonies and overlaid vocals.

Standout tracks There’s None Of That and Nooks are melodic and catchy in a kitchen-sink drama/ Beautiful South kind of way and Admiral is surely one of the most gorgeous songs of year.