James Yorkston has announced the release of a new collaborative album on which, alongside his nyckelharpa, he’s joined by David A Jaycock on guitars, effects, synths, and Lina Langendorf on saxophone. Yorkston / Jaycock / Langendorf will be released on We Are Busy Bodies and Black Sweat Records (Europe) on May 23rd, 2025 and is available to pre-order now via Bandcamp. You can hear the album track ‘Tide‘ below:
While Langendorf and Jaycock have previously collaborated with Yorkston, this is their first time together as a trio. Langendorf is also a member of The Second Hand Orchestra, led by Swedish music producer, leader and conductor Karl-Jonas Winqvist, who have released two collaborative albums with Yorkston: The Great White Sea Eagle and The Wide, Wide River. David A Jaycock has known Yorkston for a long time and is also a member of Big Eyes Family Players, whose Yorkston collaboration, Folk Songs (2009), is still a firm personal favourite.
An interview with Bob Agnews is included in the album notes on Bandcamp and provides some insight into the album’s making and wishes for the future.
Yorkston / Jaycock / Langendorf is an improvised album, the title reflecting the order in which the artists recorded their parts. Yorkston provided improvised nyckelharpa pieces as the foundation for each recording, and Jaycock and Langendorf responded with their own improvised parts, creating a spontaneous and organic sound. There was minimal discussion or planning between the artists, allowing for greater creative freedom. Yorkston’s nyckelharpa parts were modal, drone-like, and melodic, setting the atmosphere, while Jaycock added layers of electric and acoustic guitars, effects, and synths, building upon that foundation. Finally, Langendorf’s saxophone lines wove through the music, completing the sound.
While they recorded their parts separately from each other: Yorkston in his studio in Cellardyke, Langendorf in a rehearsal space in Stockholm and Jaycock in Cornwall, where he also assembled and mixed the album, they are interested in performing live shows and are open to creating more music together.
I’m looking forward to hearing more from the album; the influences alone caught my attention, with Yorkston citing Alice Coltrane and the VM Bhatt/Ry Cooder album “A Meeting by the River” and Jaycock mentioning 1970s/80s ECM records, freak folk, and noise music. Langendorf states: “I just listened to the music that James and David had made and then let the saxophone speak for itself so no certain influences apart from James and Davids sound.”
Pre-Order Yorkston / Jaycock / Langendorf: https://jamesyorkston.bandcamp.com/album/yorkston-jaycock-langendorf
