Diamond Mine is a collaborative album from King Creosote and Jon Hopkins. The album is a labour of love and took several years to pull together - whenever the two could find time to get together.

The album produces a near classical suite of emotion ranging from cracked despair to patched-up euphoria. King Creosote describes the album as a "soundtrack to a romanticised version of a life lived in a Scottish coastal village". The record weaves in slices of Fife life, bike wheels, spring tides, tea cups and cafe chatter to produce a timeless album.

Of the eight tracks on this album two stood out for me. 'John Taylor's Month Away' is an incredibly beautiful stripped back track. A close second is 'Bubble' which has a beautiful duet at its core.

While I enjoyed those two tracks most of all, this is an album that follows naturally from one track to the next - making it almost impossible to listen to tracks in isolation. To get the best from Diamond Mine you've got to immerse yourself in the whole experience and just go with the flow. The end result is a truly beautiful and magical listening experience.

9

Nick Smithson