James Yorkston
Steady As She Goes

Listen to some of this: fresh air rolling from the sea; the pattering of hare feet over bedroll lavender moorland; a crusting auburn leaf hitting tacky muddy ground. Listen to the smallest hidden details, not the attention-seeking showmen that wage petty fights over your attentions: James Yorkston would never stoop so low. He’ll sing of not-so-much happening, with fine explanation but little exclamation - “Took her for a little drink / for summer it is the drinking season / and took her on a long long walk, for what else could we do” - gently, ever so gently.

As with previous releases, ‘Steady As She Goes’ is easy to like but takes time to love. What initially seems just to be pleasant, perfectly nice, unassuming, will carve finger-line grooves into memory, without as much as realisation on your part. So, Yorkston, continue to soothe and suppress, continue to trickle drips and droplets of trembling guitar strings; I will continue to lie back absorbing, breathing, ever slowing my heart-rate.