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Jan 15, 2021 By Christopher Roberts Photography by Nadja Hallstrom James Yorkston

James Yorkston is releasing a new album with James Yorkston and The Second Hand Orchestra, The Wide, Wide River, on January 22 via Domino. Now the group have shared another song from the album, “There Is No Upside,” via an animated video for the track. Jonna Hallberg directed the video. Watch it below.

“There Is No Upside” was the first song the group recorded together in Sweden. Yorkston had this to say about it in a press release: “I simply asked the band to react to what I was singing, however I was so enthralled with Ullis [Ulrika Gyllenberg]’s fiddle playing, my one suggestion was she solo wildly throughout. She was a little shy at first, but I played her the Linton Kwesi Johnson track ‘Story’ and she got what I meant. I wrote this song in frustration at a friend who’d chosen to take the big flit… leaving the rest of us somewhat bewildered. I can see how this may seem to be about Brexit. It’s not - but if the cap fits…”

The video’s director and animator Jonna Hallberg had this to say: “The song inspired an idea where the people and their surroundings are stuck in their own behavior, both physically and mentally. It’s a deeply touching song moved by a lot of energy, where the illustrations and the motions reflect a feeling of my interpretation of the song’s intention and atmosphere, without being too distinct.”

Previously James Yorkston and The Second Hand Orchestra shared a video for the album’s first single, “Struggle.” “Struggle” was one of our Songs of the Week. Then they shared another song from the album, “Ella Mary Leather,” via a video for the track.

Swedish producer Karl-Jonas Winqvist is the leader and conductor of The Second Hand Orchestra. The band also features Peter Morén (Peter, Bjorn & John), Cecilia Österholm (described in a press release as “one of Sweden’s best-known nyckelharpa players”), Emma Nordenstam (piano & cello), and Ulrika Gyllenberg (violin).

Yorkston’s last solo album was 2019’s The Route to the Harmonium. At the start of 2020 he released Navarasa : Nine Emotions, a new album with Yorkston/Thorne/Khan, a trio consisting of Yorkston (guitar/nyckelharpa/vocals), Jon Thorne (double-bass/vocals), and Suhail Yusuf Khan (sarangi/vocals)

Read our My Firsts interview with James Yorkston.

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