James Yorkston is a Scottish singer/songwriter who has built a healthy following over the last few years. This is his second album of gentle, modern folk music and will appeal to many lovers of the genre.

Heron opens the album with a rare fragility of pace and mood. Yorkston’s voice is so quiet that the words are hardly audible with the less-than-ambitious recording/production quality. The tempo rises dramatically with the next song, Shipwreckers which also turned out to be the major highlight of the album. It is here that Yorkston most reminds me of that formidable singer/songwriter Will Oldham, both vocally and in terms of a song that boasts a massive melody along with superb instrumental backing. The pace slows with the very beautiful Surf Song and at last I began to appreciative the strong lyrical content of the album.

Hermitage is another beauty with some truly wonderful, gently plucked banjo moments and yet another very strong melody. Yorkston’s voice is one-dimensional, almost detached, but expressive at the same time, a clever trick…

JUST BEYOND THE RIVER is a lovely album with my only criticisms being that several of the songs sound similar, and the production generally fails to give sufficient emphasis to the voice (and therefore the all-important lyrics are often very difficult to hear). I can imagine Yorkston delivering his set to a hushed, reverent and seated audience in candlelit ambience. And in these troubled times, we should all perhaps take time out to listen to albums like this, in quiet contemplation. Recommended.

4/5