Alan Davidson, aka the Kitchen Cynics, is probably one of Scotland's best-kept secrets. The unassuming art teacher only took up the guitar in his late twenties,but since the late 1980s, he has released a veritable deluge of albums, many via his own Les Enfants du Paradiddle micro-label. Deeply rooted in and inspired by his native Aberdeen and influenced by traditional folk tales and ballads, songwriters like Nick Drake and Bridget St John and the folk psychedelia of the Incredible String Band and Pearls Before Swine, Alan seemingly effortlessly creates beautifully crafted vignettes referencing local people, places and history. Despite his prodigious output – his compulsive songwriting disorder, to borrow the title of one of his albums – Alan's writing continues to go from strength to strength, with 2008's Cornkisters described by Terrascope as "the finest Kitchen Cynics album to date".

Alan has a host of admirers including Tom Rapp (Pearls Before Swine), Josephine Foster, Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance), Mary Hampton, Thomas Truax, Pamela Wyn Shannon, Jesse Poe and PG Six, many of whom have shared a stage with him, appeared on his albums or co-written songs with him. Here at Folk Police Recordings, we are dedicated Kitchen Cynics fans and are proud to announce that Alan has agreed to let us make some of his extensive catalogue of albums available to us to release via our download store at Bandcamp. We believe that these undiscovered gems deserve a wider audience. Once you've listened, we hope you will agree.

Now Available from the Folk Police Download Store:

A' the Bonny Bumps and Bruises - Cornkisters - Where Are We Now? - Dust - I Went to an Alehouse - Disconnected – Compulsive Songwriting Disorder

As an introduction, we've made Rites of the Mainspring, Alan's excellent 2008 24-track Kitchen Cynics sampler available for a limited period as a pay-what-you-want download (minimum price £1.00). This compilation spans 20-odd years of Alan's output.

More at: Kitchen Cynics Bandcamp where you can also have a good root round and listen to loads of stuff.

"One of God's songwriters, he has been firing off intriguing compositions like sparks from the Catherine Wheel of his mind for as long as I can remember,and probably longer than he can." (Ptolemaic Terrascope, UK)

"Much to my delight, Davidson has continued producing quixotic music through the years and shows no signs of letting up. There will always be something legendary about the Kitchen Cynics for me. It's amazing how fresh & enthusiastic Davidson is about this after 20 years." (Foxy Digitalis, US)

Folk Police Recordings