JAMES YORKSTON
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Doug Johnstone meets celebrated singer, musical craftsman and all round book fiend James Yorkston to talk perfect page turners, leopards running wild in Fife and the fine art of making great records.
hc bcst musicians and writcrs hayc a lot
in common: loncly ycars spcnt trying to
crcatc sontcllting which has a modicum of truth and originality about it. only for it to gct routincly ignorcd as thc latcst ol'l‘cring from Dan Brown or 'I‘hc Crazy Frog sits at thc top ol thc charts. It's no surprisc that writcrs and inusicians ol'tcn draw inspiration from cach othcr's work. Such is thc casc with .lamcs Yorkston.
You can tcll li'om his music that thc linglish- born. liil'c-raiscd songwritcr is qtlilc thc rcadcr. 'l‘hc matcrial across his thrcc albums has bccn laccd with wondcrl‘ul imagcry. wry humour and a dclicatc wordsmithcry. cach song a dcscriptiyc yigncttc ol cycryday lil'c. yct which lcads to dccpcr pondcrings on thc human condition.
Yorkston's rcccntly rclcascd third alhtun. 'l‘lu' Your of the [mo/mm]. is no cxccption. ln thc prcss rclcasc that accompanicd it. Yorkston admittcd that thc titlc was partly a nod to 7711' Leopard. a noycl by Italian writcr (iiuscppc 'l‘omasi di Lampcdusa. lt sccmcd thc pcrl'cct opportunity. thcrcl'orc. to mcct up with thc man and ask him about thc litcraturc that has mcant so much to him. both pcrsonally and in his art.
\\'c mch in Stcphcn Bann‘s \‘cgctarian
rcstaurant in lidinburgh. and it's clcar from our
conycrsation that Yorkston is in posscssion of a l'icrcc intclligcncc. a niccly sclli-dcprccating
14 THE LIST 13' ()2'. ;’ No.'1)i;l)i}
scnsc ol humour and no small amount ol charm. As hc whips copics ol‘ thc books in qucstion from his bag. hc quiucs your lowly scrihc on cach onc in a soil but insistcnt yoicc.
AUSTERLITZ BY WG SEBALD
Schald was a post-war (icrman writcr. and
.-lustvrlil:. his last noy‘cl. dcals with somconc
scarching l'or thcir idcntity in thc holocaust al‘tcrmath.
:Ei% filthv‘ . :L -/
"l'his is a hcayy book to start. I don‘t know how to dcscribc it without bringing us down.‘ Yorkston laughs. "I‘hcrc‘s a spirit running through it that's so . . . loncsomc. He‘s not corrncctcd to anything. hc's so low and dcprcsscd.’ llc laughs again. ‘But it's thc l‘unnicst hook. 'l‘hc humour is so dry. that you'd miss it il’ you wcrcn‘t looking.
‘()nc ol' the rcasons l rclatc to this is bccausc. although I‘m l'rom l’il'c. my family aren‘t from liil‘c. and I don‘t sound like I'm from l‘il’c. and Scbald‘s hooks arc all about not fitting in. about not having pcoplc to rclatc to.’
"l‘hcrc‘s a phrasc ol‘ Scbald‘s which I absolutcly agrcc with.‘ hc says abscnt- mindcdly. “How I wish I bclongcd to a dil’l’crcnt nation. or bcttcr still. to nonc at all." ‘
2mm? ‘lt's thc last onc hc wrotc bcl‘orc hc killcd himsclll' Yorkston chucklcs. 'llc gcts callcd thc missing link hctwccn thc bcat pocts and the flower powcr gcncration. llis lirst noycls wcrc prctty amazing. but thcy wcrcn‘t hippy. thcy wcrc way bcttcr than that.‘
'l.ikc Scbald. Brautigan‘s stall is very dark. but it‘s ycry funny. and his writing is just incrcdibly fluent and light. You‘rc right insidc the guy's mind.‘