C Duncan – ‘It’s Only A Love Song’ album review: A warm bath of cinematic romanticism

Name: C Duncan - Its Only A Love Song
Rating: 3.5

Ben Forrest

Thu 23 January 2025 15:19, UK

C Duncan - 'It's Only A Love Song'

3.5

THE SKINNY: Love and romance have been the bread and butter of songwriters for centuries. These universal emotions have launched countless songwriting stars, but, particularly in recent years, many mainstream love songs have begun to feel vacuous and lacking in any real emotion. While this is hardly a modern problem, songwriters like Glasgow’s C Duncan are on hand to provide an antidote. On his latest album, fittingly titled It’s Only A Love Song, the classically trained multi-instrumentalist bathes audiences in a sonic journey of sublime romanticism while also showcasing his intense songwriting talents.

It has been just under three years since the last C Duncan album, Alluvium, but those intervening years have certainly not been wasted. Returning to Bella Union for the new record, Duncan is at his strongest in years. From the offset, the songwriter creates a stunningly cinematic world with vast overarching themes of love, emotion, and human connection.

His understated vocals blend seamlessly with the grandiose orchestral sounds offered up on each and every track. In addition to the quality of the individual songs themselves, Duncan also manages to create a sense of overarching narrative to the album, which prevents it from ever stalling or feeling overly repetitive.

As the track listing progresses, it is fair to say that the songs themselves do not offer an incredible degree of diversity within their sound. Although Duncan often switches up the pace and core theming of the instrumentation, each track follows a similar structure and romantic narrative. However, rather than this culminating in a feeling of repetition or banality, these themes work in Duncan’s favour to create a cohesive, fully-formed album instead of a hastily strewn-together collection of individual songs.

There is something very timeless about Duncan’s take on love songs. In terms of sound, the orchestration and basic structure of many of the tracks on this record could easily have been lifted straight from the film scores of the 1940s and 1950s. Still, there is something undeniably modern at play on the album, too. This speaks to the endless inventiveness of the Glaswegian composer, who was able to tackle classical sounds without relying too heavily on nostalgia or novelty retro sounds.

All in all, It’s Only A Love Song is certainly not the most inventive or revolutionary album that we will see in 2025. Nevertheless, its timeless romanticism and the relaxing, ethereal tones of C Duncan make for a fitting alternative to the constant stress and anxiety of the world around us.

For fans of: Being in love, watching the rain fall down a bus window at night, and pretending that your life is a second-rate coming-of-age film.

A concluding comment from Ben’s housemate: “I had things to do today but, because of this bloke from Glasgow, now I am far too relaxed to do anything other than run a hot bath and drink red wine. Thanks a lot.”

It’s Only A Love Song track by track:

Release date: January 24th | Producer: Christopher David Duncan | Label: Bella Union

‘It’s Only A Love Song’: Easing us into the album with this wonderfully cinematic, lush offering, Duncan showcases the extent of his classical training, along with his clear knack for songwriting. The themes explored on the opener are, of course, expanded on throughout the tracklisting, but ‘It’s Only A Love Song’ provides an excellent introduction to the album. [3.5/5]

‘Lucky Today’: Continuing on in a similar atmosphere to the opener, Duncan’s hushed vocals and enchanting instrumentation lull the listener into his own world of orchestral romanticism. [4/5]

‘Triste Clair De Lune’: Imbued with a sense of power and passion, Duncan’s development through this album is increasingly retro in its theming. Nevertheless, the songwriter’s appeal is fairly timeless, meaning the tracks themselves rarely feel overly dated or old-fashioned. [4/5]

‘Worry’: Slowing things down somewhat, ‘Worry’ is almost ethereal in quality, feeling akin to fledgling ideas floating around the inner consciousness of Duncan himself. The resulting song is deeply introspective and emotional, although it fails to maintain the same power as previous elements on the album. [3/5]

‘The Space Between Us’: Returning to the themes of love and romance that first introduced this record, Duncan’s distinct voice acts as a consistent guide throughout the album. [3.5/5]

‘Think About It’: As we reach the halfway point of It’s Only A Love Song, the multi-instrumentalist keeps things fresh by upping the pace and adopting a more upbeat approach to his brand of orchestral love songs. [4/5]

‘Delirium’: Although the vast majority of tracks on this record follow similar sounds and themes, Duncan manages to avoid feelings of repetition by weaving an overarching narrative through the tracklisting. The record feels more like a sonic journey than a pitiful slog through 11 love songs. [3.5/5]

‘Sadness’: Duncan’s lyrical performance on this song is perhaps his weakest on the album thus far. Nevertheless, the strength and grandiose nature of the instrumentation is more than enough to make ‘Sadness’ a compelling listen. [3/5]

‘Surface Of A Fantasy’: Approaching the finale of the record, Duncan once again changes the pace of It’s Only A Love Song, creating an atmosphere of anticipation and excitement, a theme which is far too often ignored within the landscape of modern love songs. [4/5]

‘Reprise’: Reminding the listener of the album’s opener and its prevailing themes, the penultimate track does not offer anything particularly new – it is a reprise, after all – but it does add to a sense of coherence to the album as a whole. [N/A]

‘Time And Again’: Closing out the album with an endearingly emotional piano ballad, Duncan injects his suave style into a fitting farewell, which also serves as a satisfying conclusion to the narrative of the record. [3.5/5]