Discography

Most of these releases are available from the JY shop.

When The Haar Rolls In (2008)

Produced by JY and Reuben.

  • B’s Jig
  • Tortoise Regrets Hare
  • Temptation
  • When The Haar Rolls In
  • Queen Of Spain
  • Midnight Feast
  • Would You Have Me Born With Wooden Eyes?
  • Summer’s Not The Same Without You
  • The Capture Of The Horse

“For me, listening to James Yorkston’s music is like coming across the interesting-looking person on the fringes of a party. Before you know it, you’ve spent the evening listening to their compelling tale. In this record, I get a real sense that he has found his true voice. There’s a quiet confidence in his craft; his singing, the words and instrumentation, all blend seamlessly to produce a really affecting record.” – Philip Selway, Radiohead

“Amid sleepy fiddles and brooding harmoniums, these bleary love-drunk dispatches – especially the startling spectre-rattle of Midnight Feast and the swelling autumn mist of The Capture of the Horse – rank among the most breathtaking by anyone this year” 5/5 The Times

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Roaring The Gospel (2007)

A selection of B-sides, European EP tracks, vinyl only tracks, etc.

  • A Man With My Skills
  • Someplace Simple
  • Blue Madonnas
  • Seven Streams
  • The Hills & The Heath
  • Song To The Siren
  • Moving Up Country, Roaring The Gospel (7″ demo version)
  • Blue Bleezin’ Blind Drunk
  • Sleep Is The Jewel
  • Are You Coming Home Tonight?
  • The Lang Toun
  • La Magnifica

“This collection of songs shows Yorkston to have talent as deep as a mineshaft” - NME

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The Year Of The Leopard (Autumn 2006)

The Year Of The Leopard

James’ third full length LP for Domino Records, recorded with Paul Webb a/k/a Rustin Man.

  • Summer Song
  • Steady As She Goes
  • The Year Of The Leopard
  • 5 AM
  • Woozy With Cider
  • I Awoke
  • The Brussels Rambler
  • Orgiva Song
  • Don’t Let Me Down
  • Us Late Travellers

“Music rarely gets more beautiful, comforting or truthful as this” - Plan B

“A masterclass of understatement & restraint” - The Independent On Sunday

“Yorkston has created an eclectic collection of gems which exceeds his own already high standards” - The List

“It’s lovely understated melodies, autumnal arrangements & warm wry lyrics are virtually imposible to shift” - The Guardian

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Just Beyond The River. Autumn 2004. James’ 2nd full length album for Domino, was recorded with Kieran Hebden (aka 4tet).

Just Beyond The River

  • Heron
  • Shipwreckers
  • Surf Song
  • Hermitage
  • Hotel
  • This Time Tomorrow
  • We Flew Blind
  • Banjo #1
  • Edward
  • Banjo#2
  • The Snow It Melts The Soonest

“Yorkston has reached a state of grace that writers can spend for ever trying to attain: songs that sound not so much written as carefully retrieved from your own subconcious, played with an intuition bordering on telepathy. What more could you ask for?” - 5/5 The Times

“An intelligent and beautifully crafted set of songs from a musician and lyricist of rare depth” - 5/5 Record Collector

“Yorkston has delivered no less than a masterpiece” - The Telegraph

“A masterpiece that could just become a timeless classic” - The Fly

“Just Beyond The River is another masterpiece” - Time Out

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Moving Up Country June 2002

Moving Up Country - Domino LP

This debut album was produced by JY and mostly mixed by Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins / Bella Union)

  • In Your Hands
  • St. Patrick
  • Sweet jesus
  • Tender To The Blues
  • Moving Up Country, Roaring The Gospel
  • Cheating The Game
  • I Spy Dogs
  • 6:30 Is Just Way Too Early
  • The Patience Song
  • I Know My Love

Rough Trade album of the year 2002
“Every so often a record comes out of nowehere and astounds you with it’s brilliance” - NME

Live at Le Poisson MouilleLive at Le Poisson Mouille - 12 tracks, featuring James with Faisal, Reuben & Doogie recorded towards the end of their late Autumn 2004 tour. This is a semi-offical release - ie it can only be bought from this website or at live shows.Heron
Moving Up Country, Roaring the Gospel
This Time Tomorrow
Hotel
Cheating The Game
Surf Song
Someplace Simple
Banjo#1
6:30 Is Just Way Too Early
A Friday Night In New York
Tender To The Blues
I Know My Love
Lang Cat, Crooked Cat, Spider CatLang Cat, Crooked Cat, Spider Cat (Picket Fence) - “So, here’s my 2nd, and the Athletes 1st Picket Fence. It was pretty easy, really, we just set up our gear and played. We did two evenings, then I took the tapes home and mixed & edited them. I’m no good at that, so excuse the lack of bass drum. I love this CD though, i’m really proud of it. We all swapped instruments and such - it’s a rare occasion I play the violin (first time was for Johnny Pictish on a BBC session), and Doogie has sworn never to lift the concertina again, though I really like what he played. Faisal’s guitar playing really amazed me, as did Reuben’s considered double-bass work. A rare recording - Reuben playing the least notes of all of us! Ah well…” JYYou can download one of the songs from this free, on the listen page..
Surf SongSurf Song/Song To The Siren (7″ only) (June 05)- The 2nd & final single from Just Beyond The River, this features an exclusive version of ‘Song To The Siren’ as a b-side, which was recorded with Jon Bews & Reuben Taylor. It can be bought here. You can download Song To The Siren - for free - here - but it doesn’t come with the amazing cat cover.
ShipwreckersShipwreckers (7″ & CD) (Feb 05) - The first single release from Just Beyond The River It’s a remix by Bacon and Quarmby. It sounds nice ‘n’ shiny.The CD also features James’ original demo version of Heron, as well as The ‘A’ of the Oboe, taken from James Yorkston and The Athletes Picket Fence C12. None of those sound nice ‘n’ shiny. But they do sound nice, which is half the battle.
The 7” features The Route To The Harmonium – which sounds like an angry wasp, trapped in a jar. It can be bought here.

Someplace SimpleSomeplace Simple November 2003, Domino.
The Someplace Simple EP CD has 5 tracks:
1. someplace simple
2. scarecrow
3. rosemary lane
4. false true love
5. in dessexshire as it befelThe vinyl version has a sixth track, Spittoon. (Though it isn’t very long, and has no words.)”Before I had been approached by Domino Records, I had the dubious experience of being encouraged not to release any new material by an ambitious & fun young record company I’d become involved with, whilst they sorted their finances out. As this steadily became more frustrating, I decided to record an album of Traditional tunes for Fence Records, with the intention of it becoming a limited release for Fence Collective ears. Happily however, I ended up signing to Domino, and have since released a few of those intended tunes (’I know my love’, ‘Blue Bleezin’ Blind Dunk’, ‘Hares on the mountain/Old Maid’) on subsequent Domino releases. Here though are some of the tracks that got away, alongside a new one I wrote with my buddy Morgan” - JY. It can be bought here.
Sweet JesusSweet Jesus Domino, January 2003And so JY made his way up to Fence HQ in Cellardyke to record an e.p. with Fife legend King Creosote. The Sweet Jesus e.p. was released in the UK in early January 2003. As well as the original version of “Sweet Jesus” it contains a new JY song entitled “La Magnifica”. Chasing them up are a trad. song which James occasionally plays live called “Blue Bleezin’ Blind Drunk” and James’ take on the classic King Creosote number “You want to walk”. (If you are a KC fan, you will either love it or hate it. If you aren’t, then you just don’t know what you’re missing.)
Tender to the BluesTender To The Blues Domino, September 2002The next single JY & the A’s brought out was “tender to the blues”. The title track is backed with “6:30 (reuben’s string mix)”; “a man with my skills” and “hares on the mountain; old maid”. ‘Hares..’ was initially recorded for Fence Records, and is Sean Dooley’s favourite tune. Ever.

St Patrick - Domino 10 inchSt Patrick Domino RUG141CD, RUG141T, May 2002James’ next release for Domino was St Patrick (as previously released on Bad Jazz) but this time as an ep, and for those of you stuck in the digital world of compact discs, this is the one for you.This had four tracks, St Patrick, St Patrick Vitus Remix, Catching Eyes and Blue Madonnas. Except for the title track, these songs are not available anywhere else. But if you don’t have it already, you’re too late…this one sold out too. The 10″ is still available, though - but with only 2 tracks here.
The Lang TounThe Lang Toun Domino RUG136T, April 2002This first appeared on Fence Records Sampler #3, along with others of Fife’s finest such as King Creosote, Lone Pigeon, UNPOC, Billy Pilgrim, and more.Then along came Domino (catalogue number RUG136T), and it was James’ first release with the cheeky chappies from Putney. Kieran Hebdon remixed the song, providing the B-side for the two track 10″ limited release.This has been described as haunting, disturbing, shuffling, and all sorts of other things besides. It was a 5 star vital release in Muzic, and Ministry single of the month. Sadly, another one that you can’t buy anymore..
St Patrick - Bad Jazz 7 inchSt. Patrick (original version) Bad Jazz 7″, BEBOP 33, January 2002This one was a split single with Lone Pigeon who put two amazing tracks on the other side…Rocks, and You think only boats can sink.Lone Pigeon also appears on the Moving Up Country album, providing various noises on Sweet Jesus. King Creosote also appears on the LP. Both are from Fife, long standing friends of James, and members of the Fence Records mafia. Unfortunately, this record is now unavailable.
Moving up Country - Bad Jazz 7inchMoving Up Country, Roaring The Gospel/Are You Coming Home Tonight? Bad Jazz 7″, BEBOP 21, January 2001For reasons we are not going to go into James started recording as J. Wright Presents, and this is the single that started it all. Bored of sitting at home, James recorded one of his songs and sent the tape off to John Peel, who promptly played it. One of the Bad Jazz music moguls heard the show, loved the song, and put out this record.The A side song is a considerably different recording of Moving Up Country to the album version, and the B- side is a great song, currently unavailable anywhere else…in the opinion of some, but none who matter, it should have been the A side. Sadly for us all, this one is sold out. Happily for us all, BAD JAZZ mogul Joff Gladwell, recently (15/1/05) found 274 of these under his bed. As a result, it is now available again, in a limited edition of 274, from the shop.You should know that this isn’t the whole story.
James has released many tracks with Fence, on CD’s such as Sampler #3 and Fence Reunited. Two of the fence CDs - “30″ & “Lang Cat, Crooked Cat, Spider Cat” are available from the shop. Here are some more of them:

  • Fence Reunited - James plays or sings on around 6 tunes..
  • Johns ABC - Anonymous instrumental (mostly) album. Features JY/KC/PD/LP/MCQ etc.. This is thoroughly recommended and you can buy it here.
  • Rough Trade Fence Sampler - Features an early version of one of JY’s earliest tracks, Easily Led.
  • Lets Get This Ship on the Road - Where else could you hear Pip Dylan’s bluegrass cover of James Yorkston’s “Peace in our time” and James Yorkstons’ gregorian remix of the Lone Pigeon track “Maheema” on the same record? - to be honest, don’t buy this for JY’s contribution, as it’s fairly minimal. it’s a very good album on it’s own accord though..
  • Fence Sampler Number 3 - This is where The Lang Toun first appeared, alongside the first release of UNPOC’s Amsterdam. (And 10 other great tracks besides.)