JAMES YORKSTONE — „The Wide, Wide River“ (22nd Jan., 2021)
♦ Přidání The Second Hand Orchestra je bezpochyby úspěchem; spolupráce, která by v každém okamžiku mohla zavánět riskem, že vyjde z koleje, ale která v rukou Yorkstona nakonec vdechne jeho hlasu nový život. V tomto ohledu Yorkston končí jako svůj nejhorší nepřítel — buď tím, že odvrátí pozornost od orchestru, ve kterém pracuje nejlépe jako člen a ne nutně jako vůdce, nebo upadne zpět k zlozvykům, které si držel po většinu své kariéry. „The Wide, Wide River“ je účinným svědectvím o síle jejích stran, ale bohužel jen odrazovým můstkem k silnějšímu a plodnějšímu projektu v budoucnosti.
♦ James píše: „Krásné album, které jsem vytvořil s The Second Hand Orchestra, švédskou kapelou vedenou Karl~Jonasem, mužem, kterého znám už několik let. Second Hand Orchestra před sessions žádnou z těchto písní neslyšeli. Odletěl jsem do Švédska, pozdravili mě, pak jsme se všichni posadili a naladili nástroje. Předvedl jsem skladbu, jednou, možná dvakrát, a jednoduše povzbudil hudebníky, aby reagovali na to, co slyšeli. Mix~engineer zahájil záznam a — voilà! — skladbu bychom měli. Toto album je výsledkem osmi takových odlitků sítě. Všichni to milujeme — produkce byla radostí, svěží, spontánní a plná života. x“
♦ The Line of Best Fit označil Jamesovu debutovou knihu It’s Lovely to be Here: The Touring Diaries of a Scottish Gent: „okouzlující a vtipná zpráva o životě on the road.“ 11. osobní album (celkově 37 i se singly a EPs.) Jamese Yorkstona je podobnou zprávou. Jeho úsudek je výtečný. Kým je doopravdy? Ne, není to pouze zúčastněná třetí strana. Je zde majestátní smutek, prožitek tragédie jako po pročesaných zálivech námořníka, vše cítí srdcem. Nahrávka zachycuje minulé lásky, postupující věk a přátele, kteří jsou nyní pryč, a obsahuje také některé z neoptimističtějších písní, jaké kdy Yorkston vytvořil.
Birth name: James Patrick Yorkston Wright
Born: 21 December 1971, Stratford~upon~Avon, England
Location: UK
Album release: 22nd January 2021
Record Label: Domino
Duration:
Tracks:
1. Ella Mary Leather
2. To Soothe Her Wee Bit Sorrows
3. Choices, Like Wide Rivers
4. Struggle
5. There Is No Upside
6. A Droplet Forms
7. A Very Old~Fashioned Blues
8. We Test The Beams
⇑ ‘Struggle’ Video director/photographer/edit: Sven Blume.
Review
By Mac Lockett ⌊21 January 2021⌋ Score:
♦ Scotland’s James Yorkston has been quietly releasing his written work over the last 20 years. Whether it’s his steady solo career, his work as a part of Yorkston/Thorne/Khan or the two books he’s written, Yorkston’s work always maintains a calm, knowing confidence. It’s the sound of a writer who found his voice before laying it down on tape, instead of marking his progression through his discography. In his strongest moments, Yorkston’s knack for storytelling and his willingness to yield time to his collaborators and arrangements works in tandem to elevate the entire album; at his worst Yorkston’s songwriting and brightest moments are hampered by boring and unimaginative compositions.
♦ This dichotomy has been prevalent on nearly all of his work. For every great album, such as Moving Up Country (2002) and Roaring the Gospel (2007), we get a When the Haar Rolls In (2008) or a I Was a Cat From a Book (2012). His newest album, however, does offer something new to those listeners who have stuck around after all these years. The Wide, Wide River continues Yorkston’s hefty track record with collaborators, this time bringing in the Swedish producer Karl~Jonas Winqvist and his Second Hand Orchestra.
♦ The band (which includes famed nyckelharpa player Cecilia Österholm and Peter Morén of Peter, Bjorn and John fame) may seem at odds with Yorkston’s rootsy aesthetic, but luckily their role here is more interpretive than anything else. In fact, the group only spent three days in the studio with Yorkston, opting only to hear one song ahead of time in favour of a more natural gestation for each track. The result is a breezy album, one not weighed down by theatrics or experimentation but emboldened by disparate talent.
♦ That one track previously rehearsed is “Ella Mary Leather”, the first song of The Wide, Wide River. As a result, it owes a lot to the classic Yorkston sound, heavily Scottish and devoid of much of the charm of the remaining tracks here. That’s save for a genuinely infectious chorus that swells with lush harmonies and brings peace to the ugly and steadily building staccato aggression of the verses. “Ella Mary Leather” may not sound out of place on the album, but it does sound worse. Yorkston’s songwriting is characteristic to a fault and The Second Hand Orchestra is less fluid and natural, falling behind Yorkston instead of challenging the nature of the track itself.
♦ The majority of the album does pick up on the needed balance though. “To Soothe Her Wee Bit Sorrows” jams like a drawn~out Van Morrison track, with the arrangement darting back and forth between Yorkston’s vocals and the orchestration, with a consistent strumming guitar to give the fluidity structure. At over seven minutes, it typifies the best of their collaborative possibilities, sounding equally measured and explosive.
♦ Similarly, “Struggle” struts along with the confidence of a band fully in sync, letting Yorkston invoke a hushed and withdrawn vocal delivery that feels all the more necessary when used sparingly. While letting the band carry the melody and emotional weight of the track, Yorkston’s lyrics fall into place as the band forces the listener to hang on his every word. This tactic, whilst effective, leads to more diminishing returns on “There Is No Upside”, where the lyrical repetition and stream~of~consciousness word salad comes across less charming and more unfocused. It’s hard to say that these same issues permeate the whole album; it seems more scattershot than anything else. At the very least though, Yorkston is seldom boring on The Wide, Wide River in the way he has been on some previous albums.
♦ The addition of The Second Hand Orchestra is no doubt an achievement; a collaboration that at any moment could risk going off the rails, but which in Yorkston’s hands ends up breathing new life into his voice. In that respect Yorkston ends up his own worst enemy — either by taking the spotlight away from the Orchestra, in which he works best as a member and not necessarily a leader, or by falling back onto bad habits he’s held for much of his career. The Wide, Wide River is an effective testimony to the strength of its parties, but unfortunately just a stepping stone to a stronger, more fruitful project in the future. — sungenre.com
♦ https://sungenre.com/review/james-yorkston-and-the-second-hand-orchestra-the-wide-wide-river/
Description:
♦ Yorkston says of recording “Struggle” with TSHO: “The band were sat by in the studio by themselves, looping the verses over and over. I was in the control room, drinking sweet tea. I just had to wait for the right moment and jump on board, like when I’m pushing my kids round on a roundabout in the local park. I love that everyone was singing along so freely when we recorded this. There were vocal mics for everyone, and people would just lean in with a harmony, every now and then. It gives it a very communal feeling.”
♦ That communal feeling is apparent across the entire album. Recorded and mixed in Sweden over the course of three days with a selection of musicians Winqvist had brought together. The studio approach with The Second Hand Orchestra was entirely improvised around Yorkston’s songs, and the only song they heard in advance was “Ella Mary Leather”; Yorkston didn’t want to direct anyone too much but instead, allowed for a welcoming, instinctive, free~spirited and joyful atmosphere. The Wide, Wide River is a soothing, warm and sublime listen, whilst also highlighting Yorkston’s skills for songwriting, collaboration and as a musical conductor. The record takes in past loves, advancing age and friends, now gone, whilst also containing some of the most sanguine songs Yorkston has ever made.
♦ The Wide, Wide River is James’ tenth album for Domino, not to mention his three albums as part of Yorkston/Thorne/Khan and his two books. A prolific writer, Yorkston has worked with a wealth of talent over his two~decade career including Four Tet, Alexis Taylor, KT Tunstall, Rustin Man, Simon Raymonde, Norma and Mike Waterson, Martin Carthy, Max Cooper, David Wrench and many others.
Website: https://www.jamesyorkston.co.uk/
BC: https://jamesyorkston.bandcamp.com/album/the-wide-wide-river
FB: https://www.facebook.com/jamesyorkstonathletic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamesyorkston
INSTA: https://www.instagram.com/jamesyorkston/
Label: https://www.dominomusic.com/uk
♦ Přidání The Second Hand Orchestra je bezpochyby úspěchem; spolupráce, která by v každém okamžiku mohla zavánět riskem, že vyjde z koleje, ale která v rukou Yorkstona nakonec vdechne jeho hlasu nový život. V tomto ohledu Yorkston končí jako svůj nejhorší nepřítel — buď tím, že odvrátí pozornost od orchestru, ve kterém pracuje nejlépe jako člen a ne nutně jako vůdce, nebo upadne zpět k zlozvykům, které si držel po většinu své kariéry. „The Wide, Wide River“ je účinným svědectvím o síle jejích stran, ale bohužel jen odrazovým můstkem k silnějšímu a plodnějšímu projektu v budoucnosti.
♦ James píše: „Krásné album, které jsem vytvořil s The Second Hand Orchestra, švédskou kapelou vedenou Karl~Jonasem, mužem, kterého znám už několik let. Second Hand Orchestra před sessions žádnou z těchto písní neslyšeli. Odletěl jsem do Švédska, pozdravili mě, pak jsme se všichni posadili a naladili nástroje. Předvedl jsem skladbu, jednou, možná dvakrát, a jednoduše povzbudil hudebníky, aby reagovali na to, co slyšeli. Mix~engineer zahájil záznam a — voilà! — skladbu bychom měli. Toto album je výsledkem osmi takových odlitků sítě. Všichni to milujeme — produkce byla radostí, svěží, spontánní a plná života. x“
♦ The Line of Best Fit označil Jamesovu debutovou knihu It’s Lovely to be Here: The Touring Diaries of a Scottish Gent: „okouzlující a vtipná zpráva o životě on the road.“ 11. osobní album (celkově 37 i se singly a EPs.) Jamese Yorkstona je podobnou zprávou. Jeho úsudek je výtečný. Kým je doopravdy? Ne, není to pouze zúčastněná třetí strana. Je zde majestátní smutek, prožitek tragédie jako po pročesaných zálivech námořníka, vše cítí srdcem. Nahrávka zachycuje minulé lásky, postupující věk a přátele, kteří jsou nyní pryč, a obsahuje také některé z neoptimističtějších písní, jaké kdy Yorkston vytvořil.
Birth name: James Patrick Yorkston Wright
Born: 21 December 1971, Stratford~upon~Avon, England
Location: UK
Album release: 22nd January 2021
Record Label: Domino
Duration:
Tracks:
1. Ella Mary Leather
2. To Soothe Her Wee Bit Sorrows
3. Choices, Like Wide Rivers
4. Struggle
5. There Is No Upside
6. A Droplet Forms
7. A Very Old~Fashioned Blues
8. We Test The Beams
⇑ ‘Struggle’ Video director/photographer/edit: Sven Blume.
Review
By Mac Lockett ⌊21 January 2021⌋ Score:
♦ Scotland’s James Yorkston has been quietly releasing his written work over the last 20 years. Whether it’s his steady solo career, his work as a part of Yorkston/Thorne/Khan or the two books he’s written, Yorkston’s work always maintains a calm, knowing confidence. It’s the sound of a writer who found his voice before laying it down on tape, instead of marking his progression through his discography. In his strongest moments, Yorkston’s knack for storytelling and his willingness to yield time to his collaborators and arrangements works in tandem to elevate the entire album; at his worst Yorkston’s songwriting and brightest moments are hampered by boring and unimaginative compositions.
♦ This dichotomy has been prevalent on nearly all of his work. For every great album, such as Moving Up Country (2002) and Roaring the Gospel (2007), we get a When the Haar Rolls In (2008) or a I Was a Cat From a Book (2012). His newest album, however, does offer something new to those listeners who have stuck around after all these years. The Wide, Wide River continues Yorkston’s hefty track record with collaborators, this time bringing in the Swedish producer Karl~Jonas Winqvist and his Second Hand Orchestra.
♦ The band (which includes famed nyckelharpa player Cecilia Österholm and Peter Morén of Peter, Bjorn and John fame) may seem at odds with Yorkston’s rootsy aesthetic, but luckily their role here is more interpretive than anything else. In fact, the group only spent three days in the studio with Yorkston, opting only to hear one song ahead of time in favour of a more natural gestation for each track. The result is a breezy album, one not weighed down by theatrics or experimentation but emboldened by disparate talent.
♦ That one track previously rehearsed is “Ella Mary Leather”, the first song of The Wide, Wide River. As a result, it owes a lot to the classic Yorkston sound, heavily Scottish and devoid of much of the charm of the remaining tracks here. That’s save for a genuinely infectious chorus that swells with lush harmonies and brings peace to the ugly and steadily building staccato aggression of the verses. “Ella Mary Leather” may not sound out of place on the album, but it does sound worse. Yorkston’s songwriting is characteristic to a fault and The Second Hand Orchestra is less fluid and natural, falling behind Yorkston instead of challenging the nature of the track itself.
♦ The majority of the album does pick up on the needed balance though. “To Soothe Her Wee Bit Sorrows” jams like a drawn~out Van Morrison track, with the arrangement darting back and forth between Yorkston’s vocals and the orchestration, with a consistent strumming guitar to give the fluidity structure. At over seven minutes, it typifies the best of their collaborative possibilities, sounding equally measured and explosive.
♦ Similarly, “Struggle” struts along with the confidence of a band fully in sync, letting Yorkston invoke a hushed and withdrawn vocal delivery that feels all the more necessary when used sparingly. While letting the band carry the melody and emotional weight of the track, Yorkston’s lyrics fall into place as the band forces the listener to hang on his every word. This tactic, whilst effective, leads to more diminishing returns on “There Is No Upside”, where the lyrical repetition and stream~of~consciousness word salad comes across less charming and more unfocused. It’s hard to say that these same issues permeate the whole album; it seems more scattershot than anything else. At the very least though, Yorkston is seldom boring on The Wide, Wide River in the way he has been on some previous albums.
♦ The addition of The Second Hand Orchestra is no doubt an achievement; a collaboration that at any moment could risk going off the rails, but which in Yorkston’s hands ends up breathing new life into his voice. In that respect Yorkston ends up his own worst enemy — either by taking the spotlight away from the Orchestra, in which he works best as a member and not necessarily a leader, or by falling back onto bad habits he’s held for much of his career. The Wide, Wide River is an effective testimony to the strength of its parties, but unfortunately just a stepping stone to a stronger, more fruitful project in the future. — sungenre.com
♦ https://sungenre.com/review/james-yorkston-and-the-second-hand-orchestra-the-wide-wide-river/
Description:
♦ Yorkston says of recording “Struggle” with TSHO: “The band were sat by in the studio by themselves, looping the verses over and over. I was in the control room, drinking sweet tea. I just had to wait for the right moment and jump on board, like when I’m pushing my kids round on a roundabout in the local park. I love that everyone was singing along so freely when we recorded this. There were vocal mics for everyone, and people would just lean in with a harmony, every now and then. It gives it a very communal feeling.”
♦ That communal feeling is apparent across the entire album. Recorded and mixed in Sweden over the course of three days with a selection of musicians Winqvist had brought together. The studio approach with The Second Hand Orchestra was entirely improvised around Yorkston’s songs, and the only song they heard in advance was “Ella Mary Leather”; Yorkston didn’t want to direct anyone too much but instead, allowed for a welcoming, instinctive, free~spirited and joyful atmosphere. The Wide, Wide River is a soothing, warm and sublime listen, whilst also highlighting Yorkston’s skills for songwriting, collaboration and as a musical conductor. The record takes in past loves, advancing age and friends, now gone, whilst also containing some of the most sanguine songs Yorkston has ever made.
♦ The Wide, Wide River is James’ tenth album for Domino, not to mention his three albums as part of Yorkston/Thorne/Khan and his two books. A prolific writer, Yorkston has worked with a wealth of talent over his two~decade career including Four Tet, Alexis Taylor, KT Tunstall, Rustin Man, Simon Raymonde, Norma and Mike Waterson, Martin Carthy, Max Cooper, David Wrench and many others.
Website: https://www.jamesyorkston.co.uk/
BC: https://jamesyorkston.bandcamp.com/album/the-wide-wide-river
FB: https://www.facebook.com/jamesyorkstonathletic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamesyorkston
INSTA: https://www.instagram.com/jamesyorkston/
Label: https://www.dominomusic.com/uk