By day, William Brodie was one of Edinburgh’s most respected craftsmen. By night, he was a gambler and burglar leading a dangerous secret life.
Created as part of Auld Reekie Nocturne, Natasha Kitty Katt’s synth-led journey through Edinburgh’s dark history, ‘Deacon By Day, Devil By Night’ turns Brodie’s divided existence into a brooding dark electronic track. Drawing on gothic new wave and the eerie synth scores of John Carpenter, the music builds layer by layer as Brodie’s carefully controlled world begins to crack.
Natasha performs every element on the track, from the synths and electric guitar to the vocals. Her vocals are fractured, whispered and deliberately unsettling, channeling his public persona and hidden criminal identity as though both are fighting for control.
Brodie’s double life is widely regarded as one of the real-life inspirations behind Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Nearly a century before Stevenson put Jekyll and Hyde on the page, Brodie had already lived that nightmare on Edinburgh’s streets. Deacon By Day, Devil By Night brings the real man behind one of literature’s most famous divided identities back into focus.
