James Yorkston
St. Patrick

Like haggis, kilts and bagpipes, ‘St. Patrick’ is as traditionally Scottish as it possibly could be, without calling itself ‘St. Andrew’ obviously.

The album of its origin, ‘Moving Up Country’, was a tepid pill to swallow – a little too morose and, regrettably, boring to stomach over the course of a full LP. But removed from this context, ‘St. Patrick’ shimmers beautifully in its own splendid isolation.

Heavy-hearted but with an interwoven sense of impending hope, James Yorkston muses sadly how “the hardest time to forget/ is when sleep clears your mind” and a thousand delicate waifs sigh with him.

‘Catching Eyes’ and ‘Blue Madonnas’ fit the mood well, albeit slightly less strikingly, although the remix of ‘St. Patrick’ does no-one any favours; effectively the title track minus words and played underwater.