Album: Moving Up Country
Artist: James Yorkston & The Athletes
Born: Kingsbarns, Fife
Released: June 2002
Genre: Folk
James Yorkston is a musician I've got a lot of time for: I've seen him play live several times, read his book (It's Lovely To Be Here: The Touring Diaries Of A Scottish Gent) and watched him do a talk at Green Man 2013. He was in conversation with Pete Paphides and talked very movingly about his friend and former bass player, Doogie Paul, who died from cancer in 2012. He also told some great anecdotes, such as his "arsehole move" of insulting Daniel Johnston, and voiced his profound dislike of Spotify. Yorkston finished his talk with a rendition of Broken Wave, a song dedicated to Doogie that appeared on his latest record, C/R/A/W/S (The Cellardyke Recording and Wassailing Society). I've gradually amassed a collection of his albums on CD, and two of my favourites are Moving Up Country and I Was A Cat From A Book (2012). There's a real simplicity and purity to his music, a quality you see in some of Yorkston's folk influences, including Anne Briggs, Nick Drake and Michael Hurley. For someone who started out as a bass guitarist in a punk band, Yorkston's musical style has evolved hugely and he owes some of this development to being part of Fife's hotbed of talent, the Fence Collective, a musical community established by King Creosote in the late 90s, including the likes of Beta Band, KT Tunstall and The Pictish Trail. Yorkston's breakthrough was having John Peel play a demo of this album's title track, Moving Up Country, Roaring The Gospel, which led to record label interest and a tour with John Martyn.
Produced by former Cocteau Twins member Simon Raymonde, Moving Up Country came out on Domino Records, the major indie label that Yorkston's still with now. The album was re-released in a 10th anniversary version in 2012, featuring extras like a Peel session broadcast in January 2003. The album sessions were recorded in a remote farmhouse in the Scottish Borders, giving the record an intimate and homespun feel, as though Yorkston were in front of the fire spinning yarns. I love the sound of St Patrick especially, with its lush strings arranged by Reuben Taylor and Wendy Chan's violin. The sound of King Creosote's accordion also has a soothing effect throughout. Yorkston's vocal style is reminiscent of Nick Drake but his lyrics are much more direct (I like the line on Sweet Jesus, "Because I found love and a thousand answers to the trapped little ghosts of a thousand glasses"). As well as the songs about love and complicated relationships, there's also a constant yearning for escape, away from a chaotic and busy world to simpler country pleasures. Along with St Patrick, highlights for me are the title track, which has a really expansive freedom about it, and I Know My Love, Yorkston's brilliant arrangement of a traditional Irish folk song. The harmonium speaks to his love of krautrock (he confesses a love of Can in his touring diaries), and the addition of Lang Toun on the remastered version is worth seeking out, an exceptional fusion of Pentangle-style layered electric folk with kosmiche music. Making traditional musical forms relevant to a modern audience is no easy task, and few pull it off these days as well as James Yorkston.
James Yorkston is a musician I've got a lot of time for: I've seen him play live several times, read his book (It's Lovely To Be Here: The Touring Diaries Of A Scottish Gent) and watched him do a talk at Green Man 2013. He was in conversation with Pete Paphides and talked very movingly about his friend and former bass player, Doogie Paul, who died from cancer in 2012. He also told some great anecdotes, such as his "arsehole move" of insulting Daniel Johnston, and voiced his profound dislike of Spotify. Yorkston finished his talk with a rendition of Broken Wave, a song dedicated to Doogie that appeared on his latest record, C/R/A/W/S (The Cellardyke Recording and Wassailing Society). I've gradually amassed a collection of his albums on CD, and two of my favourites are Moving Up Country and I Was A Cat From A Book (2012). There's a real simplicity and purity to his music, a quality you see in some of Yorkston's folk influences, including Anne Briggs, Nick Drake and Michael Hurley. For someone who started out as a bass guitarist in a punk band, Yorkston's musical style has evolved hugely and he owes some of this development to being part of Fife's hotbed of talent, the Fence Collective, a musical community established by King Creosote in the late 90s, including the likes of Beta Band, KT Tunstall and The Pictish Trail. Yorkston's breakthrough was having John Peel play a demo of this album's title track, Moving Up Country, Roaring The Gospel, which led to record label interest and a tour with John Martyn.
Produced by former Cocteau Twins member Simon Raymonde, Moving Up Country came out on Domino Records, the major indie label that Yorkston's still with now. The album was re-released in a 10th anniversary version in 2012, featuring extras like a Peel session broadcast in January 2003. The album sessions were recorded in a remote farmhouse in the Scottish Borders, giving the record an intimate and homespun feel, as though Yorkston were in front of the fire spinning yarns. I love the sound of St Patrick especially, with its lush strings arranged by Reuben Taylor and Wendy Chan's violin. The sound of King Creosote's accordion also has a soothing effect throughout. Yorkston's vocal style is reminiscent of Nick Drake but his lyrics are much more direct (I like the line on Sweet Jesus, "Because I found love and a thousand answers to the trapped little ghosts of a thousand glasses"). As well as the songs about love and complicated relationships, there's also a constant yearning for escape, away from a chaotic and busy world to simpler country pleasures. Along with St Patrick, highlights for me are the title track, which has a really expansive freedom about it, and I Know My Love, Yorkston's brilliant arrangement of a traditional Irish folk song. The harmonium speaks to his love of krautrock (he confesses a love of Can in his touring diaries), and the addition of Lang Toun on the remastered version is worth seeking out, an exceptional fusion of Pentangle-style layered electric folk with kosmiche music. Making traditional musical forms relevant to a modern audience is no easy task, and few pull it off these days as well as James Yorkston.
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