New album Cocoon is out now!
Originally a classically trained double bass player, Amy Duncan has been pursuing her passion for songwriting since 2006 when her debut album ‘Pilgrimage’ was released on the US label Plain Recordings after they discovered her songs on social networking site ‘Myspace’. She then went on to self produce 2 more albums, from which songs were placed on the BBC3 Television’s Lip Service and the Netflix version of Charmed. The song ‘My Dad’ was a winner in the 2007 Burnsong Songwriting Competition.
Amy reached a turning point in 2013 when through Creative Scotland funding she was able to work with one of Scotland’s finest producers Calum Malcolm (Prefab Sprout, The Blue Nile) resulting in ‘Cycles of Life’ being released on Linn Records. Since then Amy was chosen by Showcase Scotland as one of 2 Scottish acts to perform at the Eastern Canadian Music Alliance and was part of the Made In Scotland Showcase at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2013 and 2014. 'Undercurrents' (2016) was also funded by Creative Scotland receiving wide BBC Radio play and was featured in Folk Radio UK Top Ten Albums of 2016. Amy wrote the string arrangements for Cycles of Life and Undercurrents which were played by members of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and received more funding for a 12 date Scottish Tour with harp and strings.
‘The Hidden World’ (2020) and ‘Cocoon’ (2021) albums were self produced and released on Amy’s own label Filly Records. Much of the instrumentation was recorded at home, and Cameron Malcolm (Calum Malcolm’s son) mixed and mastered the albums. Amy has since had radio play on BBC Radio 2 Folk Show with Mark Radcliffe, BBC 6 Music Radcliffe and Maconie and the Lauren Laverne Show. ‘The Whole Town’ song was featured in the top 100 tunes from Scotland in 2020 in the Herald, along with Lewis Capaldi. ‘Cocoon’ was written in the lockdown and was reviewed in the ‘Standout’ section of The Musician Magazine as well as this review in the Sunday Times:
"The Scottish multi-instrumentalist's eighth album sits between Cocteau Twins and the Blue Nile, its broad cinematic sweep, folktronic textures, crystalline vocals and lyrics imbued with introspection and memory-lane inventory-taking yielding moments of breathtaking beauty." Dan Cairns, The Sunday Times
Amy has performed throughout the UK, with headline concerts in venues such as The Green Note in Camden, An Tobar on the Isle of Mull and The Hug & Pint in Glasgow.
Amy recently collaborated with award-winning director and writer Ben Harrison on ‘Undertow Overflow’, a Creative Scotland funded songs and short stories project which toured Scotland in October 2022. Alternating songs and short stories, Amy provided instrumental backing using upright bass, guitar and piano loops for Ben as he performed. The show gained 4 star reviews from Joyce McMillan at The Scotsman and Michael Cox at The Stage. Undertow Overflow had its first international performance in Romania at the International Performing Arts Festival of Targoviste Babel Fast in June 2023.
