C Duncan – Nothing more (from the album The midnight sun, Fat Cat Records)

A late entry into my end of year thinking but not to worry as this is an album that needs time to smoulder.

The opening song has a gorgeous sweep if you take a minute – banks of devotional voices, a surrounding sense of mystery and a graceful but insistent melody.

And in the end a kind of soulfulness, a reaching out, perhaps an effort to alleviate the weight, underneath the sublime minimalist stylings.

There's something deeply existential about this sound but in the end it is simply transcendant.