James Yorkston, Nina Persson and the Second Hand Orchestra – The Great White Sea Eagle

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There has always been a sense of quiet surprise in James Yorkston’s literate, slow-burning take on songwriting: an apparently simple phrase that jerks the listener from one emotional state to another, a soft melancholy that condenses into a bright flash of joy, a moment when the intimate suddenly becomes widescreen, when a sudden rush of strings or the bumblebee flight of an unexpected fiddle breaks through the resin of a song. His choice of collaborators has had a similar air of pleasing unpredictability. From the early albums produced by the likes of Kieran Hebden or former Cocteau Twins bassist Simon Raymonde to later recordings with The Big Eyes Family Players and Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor, there has always been a sense that he has chosen his accomplices well, and with one eye on the left field.

This time round, he has hooked up with Swedish vocalist Nina Persson, perhaps best known as the singer with 90s indie-poppers The Cardigans. They are joined by The Second Hand Orchestra, who also accompanied Yorkston on 2021’s The Wide, Wide River. If the pairing of Yorkston and Persson might seem odd at first, any qualms are instantly dispelled by The Great White Sea Eagle’s lead single, Hold Out For Love, a loping, bittersweet folk-pop ditty with a winningly catchy hum-along chorus. A barely-tangible sadness underscores the pretty melody and message of positivity: Yorkston is a master of this balancing act, and the whole album benefits from it.

Some songs are weightier and sadder; A Sweetness In You is the most potent example. It is a poignant reflection on the life of Frightened Rabbit songwriter Scott Hutchison, as sad as any song about the passing of a friend can be and yet shot through with both hope and humour. It’s not just that these songs offer up the whole range of human emotion; it’s the fact that they acknowledge the complex interactions between those emotions that mean life can go from easy to unbearable and back again in a breath.

The recording process for The Great White Sea Eagle, much like its predecessor, involved Yorkston withholding his songs from his band until the start of the recording sessions. This technique has fostered a spirit of improvisation and openness; the whole album has what Yorkston describes as a ‘wildness’ about it, though this doesn’t imply an abandonment of formal structure. Rather it points to the band’s ability to tap into something inscrutable, even animistic, that allows them to perform with a seemingly heightened degree of affiliation. Right from the first song – the brief Sam and Jeanie McGreagor, sung by Persson – there is a natural, balanced feel to the album, a pace that always feels just right. Instrumental intrusions are withheld until just the right moment, like the feathery fiddle on An Upturned Crab. Yorkston, for the most part, plays a soft, steady piano in place of his usual acoustic guitar, and this further promotes the feeling of endearing creakiness that pervades many of these songs.

In both lyrics and music, sadness and levity sit side by side. The trumping, jazzy brass of The Heavy Lyric Police cuts through the song’s examination of ageing and passing time. ‘Here I am between my son and my father, and they whisper who put him in charge,’ Yorkston sings on A Forestful Of Rogues, and it’s a line that touches on many of the album’s wider preoccupations – parenthood, childhood, nostalgia and memory – while encapsulating its lightness of touch, the glint in its eye. Those preoccupations are felt most keenly on the title track, a spoken word narrative that shines a light on Yorkston’s immense talents as a writer of prose. It is full of hope and fear, and the eagle of its title is somehow both literal and symbolic.

Aside from this, the tenderest moments tend to be the songs in which Yorkston’s voice interacts most pointedly with Persson’s – the frankly beautiful Mary might be the album’s most emotionally-charged moment, in a typically low-key way, while The Harmony is an impressive, sustained duet, the soft-focus sound concealing a sharp pang of yearning.

While The Great White Sea Eagle shares much with Yorkston’s previous album, it somehow manages to hit harder on an emotional and visceral level. This may be in part down to Persson’s involvement or Yorkston’s constant evolution and maturation as a songwriter. A new Yorkston album is always a bracing experience, this one more so than most. It’s the musical equivalent of standing in an abandoned cottage, its doors open to the elements, as the benevolent and curious ghosts of ancient birds offer advice from the rafters.

Upcoming live dates

1^st February – The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen ~

3^rd February – Summerhall, Edinburgh ~

4^th February – Celtic Connections, Glasgow ~

5^th February – Future Yard, Birkenhead ~

6^th February – Jazz Café, London ~

7^th February – YES, Manchester ~

8^th February – The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge ~ (sold out)

9^th February – Warwick Arts Centre, Warwick ~

10^th February – Louisiana, Bristol ~

11^th February – St Stephens in the High Street, Exeter ~

12^th February – Komedia Theatre, Brighton ~

~ = James Yorkston, Nina Persson and members of The Second Hand Orchestra

Tickets

The Great White Sea Eagle is available to preorder on limited edition Dinked vinyl (oxblood coloured with bonus track on flexi disc), Dom Mart/indies edition vinyl (dark green coloured vinyl), standard vinyl, CD and digitally. Preorder: Dom Mart | Digital