The latest music act to join the micro label Common Records, Kinbrae are twin brothers Andrew and Michael Truscott who play a variety of brass, guitar and percussion to create a unique blend of accessible ambient and classical music.  The pair have just released their album Coastal Erosion  via Common Records so I caught up with them to find out more.

Hello!  How the devil are you?

Very well!  Enjoying unseasonably warm weather up here on the Isle of Coll.  Although this weekend the weather has started to turn – ferries being cancelled etc.

It's the question everyone hates, but could illuminate our readers with a little bit about your music and your influences?

Our music is probably best described as melancholic instrumental music primarily made up of simple piano melodies with accompanying brass scores.  We also incorporate subtle use of percussion, strings, synths, found sounds and field recordings.

What's your song-writing / creative process like?

We usually build material around simple ideas, usually a repeating piano/brass melody.

What could we expect to see from a live show?

The live show is pretty different from the material on record.  For one, we use electric guitar, something that doesn’t feature on the album as well as the usual piano and brass focal point.  You can expect more drones, loops and each member changing instrumentation quite a bit throughout the live show.  We try to change the line up of musicians from time to time as well.  Hopefully we’ll be incorporating visuals into our live show soon as well.

Tell us about your album Coastal Erosion.

The album I guess has quite a nostalgic feel to it, as it is about our childhood growing up in the small village of Wormit in North East Fife.  The record was mostly recorded in my flat in Glasgow and my grandparents' old, empty house in Newport on Tay.  Field recordings are the sounds from the area we grew up – River Tay, trains crossing the Tay Rail Bridge, wind, and wildlife.

What else have you got planned for the rest of 2014 and into 2015?

Playing at Ambient Festival in Cologne, Germany in January

What are you listening to at the moment?

A Winged Victory for the Sullen – Atomos
Kiasmos – Kiasmos
Grouper – Ruins
Brian Eno & Harold Budd – Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror
Alvvays – Alvvays
Jon Hopkins – Asleep Versions

Thanks for speaking with us, would you care to share a joke with us?

A man walks into a bar with a sausage roll under his arm:  “A pint of Guiness for me and the sausage roll,” he says to the barman.  “I’m sorry sir,” replies the barman, “we don’t serve food in here.”


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