King Creosote & Jon Hopkins

‘diamond mine’ is a unique & heartrending collaboration between scottish fence collective boss & singer king creosote & electronic talent & sound sculptor jon hopkins. described by creosote as a “soundtrack to a romanticised version of a life lived in a scottish coastal village”, the record combines his lilting, scottish burr & acoustic guitar, banjo & accordion with hopkins’ widescreen electronica to great effect, with the added weaving in of field recordings of fife life, bike wheels, spring tides, tea cups & café chatter adding to the atmosphere. it’s a beautifully understated & pastoral record, but lyrically creosote is raging, airing his woes on matters such as sibling rivalry & the imprecations of middle age. “a record of astounding, unhurried beauty, a wistful elegy to life on a quiet coast” 5/5 – the skinny, “the 2 together make magic: the songs don’t feel like they’ve been crafted, rather that they just floated, fully-formed, into existence” 8/10 – drowned in sound.