Stewart Henderson, Yvonne Lyon & Carol Henderson – Vesper Sky
Self Released – 26 October 2018
Scottish singer-songwriter Yvonne Lyon has to date released eight albums – the last of which, Metanoia, was released earlier this year – and yet her work has seemingly largely been hitherto appreciated only within something of a niche market rather than by the world at large. This is a pity, for her songs display a keen sense of purpose and hope-filled insight. The songs are also couched in imaginative musical settings and should, by rights, also possess a considerable crossover appeal. And there’s no reason why that net of potential appeal should not be even further widened with her latest, and most ambitious, project.
Vesper Sky is that new project and comprises a unique collection of songs and poems. It’s a collaboration between Yvonne and Stewart Henderson, a poet, songwriter and broadcaster whose own work has significantly influenced Yvonne’s writing over many years. Arguably the most fascinating and impressive facet of the collection is the way the very act of collaboration has clearly allowed, and greatly facilitated, Yvonne the chance to develop her own craft both by the act of co-writing with Stewart and by providing improvised piano accompaniment in direct response to some of the poems.
The performances sequenced for this CD, therefore, present us with the best of all worlds, an intelligently configured mix-and-match programme of (seven) songs (two interpolating passages of spoken word) and (thirteen) poems (four with a musical accompaniment). The readings are shared between Stewart and “storyteller, broadcaster and practising iconographer” Carol Henderson, their respective roles having been purposefully considered and clearly entirely appropriate for the content and context of each poem; some of the poems (e.g. The Mind’s Not What It Was) are performed as duets (I suspect they were conceived as such too), and this works extremely effectively.
Vesper Sky doesn’t have a narrative as such, in the sense that there’s no actual story being told, but there does feel to be a distinct consistency of vision in the collaborative mindset, which embodies the thoughtfully positive, hope-filled overall outlook that’s summed up in a life-philosophy that “we can’t necessarily solve all our problems but we can grow through them” (recalling that Yvonne wrote in her sleeve note for Metanoia that we can find a way forward by confronting our own story, dismantling it and gathering the pieces together again).
Aside from one track (Everything In Heaven, which sets lyrics originally written by Stewart and Carol in 1997), the individual pieces making up this collection were written over the past five years (the earliest dating from 2013), and the above-mentioned credo (rather than any artificially imposed stylistic consistency) proves the collection’s unifying force. Learning from experience is a recurring theme, while the subject-matter used to illustrate this thesis ranges between philosophical rumination to personal reflection, sometimes with a refreshing, and distinctly wry, take on behavioural observation.
The songs take us from the confident optimism of After The Fall through the cosmic romanticism of Under A Wolf Moon and the project’s title song, to the wistful The Avenue and the lyrical, impressionistic portrait of December Coast Of Galloway; there’s also a piece of savvy advice (Children Mind Your Language). Stewart and Yvonne’s core credo is summed up in the disc’s closing anthem Enjoy Not Endure. There’s a gentle reassurance, too, in How Clatter Is The World and the other poems performed to music, whether scored or improvised (in the latter mode, the combination of Living This Long and Dip Me Deep is a beautifully intimate highlight) – and even a candidly insouciant acceptance of personal eccentricity (Personal Fit).
The poems performed without musical accompaniment are if anything even more varied in their linguistic expression, and Stewart demonstrates a real understanding of the poet’s role and the measured power of words and language within different idioms and contexts, from the capricious, playful Eyes Down and the delightfully child’s-eye-view of Somewhere In The Library, to the sanguine Breakages and the somewhat pensive funeral response Considering The Hours, while notwithstanding the desperate devotional of Consideration, the even shorter poem Burrowing forms the most concise expression of the disc’s core sentiment. These are tellingly nuanced performances which will repay many listenings.
It only remains to mention that although Stewart and Carol’s readings are so integral to the project, Yvonne’s imaginative musical settings and enhancements are never less than satisfying. In addition to her vocal expertise, Yvonne plays the piano and acoustic guitars, while her husband David, together with Bryn Haworth, Sandy Jones and Graeme Duffin provide the softly textured backdrops, with other instrumentalists selectively contributing fiddle, cello, trumpet and trombone as appropriate.
The 20 items comprising Vesper Sky thus together form an appealing and thought-provoking listening programme. It’s an enterprising and worthwhile project, attractively packaged with a booklet containing full texts and credits.