Premiere: James Yorkston – ‘Feathers Are Falling’ (Luke Abbott Remix)

Beautifully distorted re-working...

A singular voice, James Yorkston has always matched this with an open-ness to collaboration.

New album 'The Cellardyke And Wassailing Society' seems to match these two elements. From the title down, it's clear that this is a James Yorkston record, rooted in a certain locality, a certain mindset.

But then there's this 'Wassailing Society'. Guests on the record include KT Tunstall, The Pictish Trail, Fimber Bravo, and Rob Smoughton, while the producer's chair was handled by Hot Chip's own Alexis Taylor.

Out now, it's a beautiful record. Fragrant songwriting matched to joyous team work, it's a fresh-sounding album, one which is dominated by unexpected notches, scrapes and birthmarks which only become apparent after several listens.

In a rather neat move, James Yorkston has asked Luke Abbott to remix fragile album highpoint 'Feathers Are Falling'. It's a decision which recalls Jon Hopkins' wonderful re-work of 'Woozy With Cider' some time back, yet the end results move in a quite distinct direction.

Luke Abbott seizes control of the track, turning Yorkston's voices into a thick, gloopy, syrupy concoction. The light, glistening percussion underneath swells, rises up and pours over the track, with the lengthy production impacting an ethereal, haunting atmosphere over the song.

Rather beautiful, you can listen to it first on Clash.

James Yorkston is set to release 'Feathers Are Falling' as a single on October 27th. The Scottish songwriter has confirmed the following shows:

September
17 Edinburgh Lulu FREE SHOW
18 Cork Cyprus Avenue
20 Dublin Working Man’s Club
21 Galway Roisin Dubh
25 London Dingwalls (w/ James Yorkston/Alexis Taylor/KT Tunstall/The Pictish Trail/Jon Thorne/Emma Smith)
27 Leeds Howard Assembly Rooms

James Yorkston & Jon Thorne (on double bass):
October
7 Manchester Deaf Institute
8 York Fibbers
9 Nottingham Bodega
10 Sheffield The Harley
11 Reading Arts Centre
12 Brighton Komedia
13 Bristol Louisiana
14 Liverpool Leaf

James Yorkston Solo:
October
26 Dundee Red Suite
28 Aberdeen Lemon Tree

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