James Yorkston – When The Haar Rolls In

• 10th Sep 2008

Folk music isn’t something that usually appeals to the popular crowd , but James Yorkston is arguably one of the best folk artists in the UK nowadays and because of that alone his album is well worth a look.

Through out the album James Yorkston takes you on a journey through misty windowed cafes in remote ports through to the even creaking of a ship at sea.

In this his fourth album the ex-Fence Collective member lets his husky voice do most of the work for him. Instruments are used sparingly but to great effect, for example for delicate melodies that dance about like raindrops in “B’s Jig”. Some tracks are a bit more unusual, like “Tortoise Regrets Hare” and “Would You Have Me Born With Wooden Eyes?”, but the quality is still there with each track telling a story.

This is one of the best recent folk releases out there, and a good place to start if you want to try out this genre of music.