The King returns to the throne of Róisín Dubh

Groove Tube with Jimi McDonnell

King Creosote, the man behind one of the best albums of the decade, plays Róisín Dubh on Sunday week, May 17.

Diamond Mine was released in 2011 and was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize. Last year, the man also known as Kenny Anderson released the equally impressive From Scotland With Love. Based in Fife, the Scottish singer is interviewed three days before the UK general election. How does he see it panning out?

“I don’t know,” he says. “It’s a bit weird, because everybody is like ‘what’s going to happen?’ It’s a shame that it’s gotten to the point where it’s just different variants of bad ideas. Or are people just jaded with the whole pre-election business, and as soon as they get in they just change it.

“I’ve no idea what’s going to happen. It’s the first time in ages that we’re thinking do we vote tactically or do we follow our instincts. I have been watching TV debates, and I’ve been known to shout at the telly! We’ll just have to see, eh?”

Kenny began making records as King Creosote in 1995. Since then, the number of albums he has released hovers around the 40 mark. But his past two albums, Diamond Mine, in particular have gotten a huge amount of acclaim. Having been a cult artist for so long, can he explain this upsurge in popularity?

“I still can’t fathom what people hear in the Diamond Mine and From Scotland With Love,” he says. “I don’t hear what’s so different about these records and the ones that came before. If I talk to my manager, he’ll put it to down to the fact that you start with a base and then there’s a bit of groundswell. It just that thing of tipping away until something gives.”

From Scotland With Love is the soundtrack to the documentary by the same name, which was directed by Virginia Heath. The film was created from archival material from the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish Screen Archive.

“It took so long because it’s such a laborious process going through the archive and sifting through hundreds and hundreds of hours,” Kenny says. “Virginia basically wrote me a synopsis of the movie, breaking it down into three minute sections, and pretty much said ‘instrumental here, song here.’ 23 songs in a 59 minute film.”

“A lot of these songs were penned really quickly, and recorded even quicker,” he adds. “We’re talking about very last-minute, in the last few days of recording we were presented with a very different visual thing. It was quite exciting.”

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.