James Yorkston is embarking on a tour of Sweden with Johanna Söderberg from First Aid Kit. With the new album “Songs for Nina and Johanna” behind them, two of today’s most distinctive voices meet in a series of concerts imbued with quiet intensity and responsive interaction.
James Yorkston is one of those rare songwriters whose music seems to move at its own pace, a little apart from the present but still in constant, intimate conversation with it. For over two decades, the Scottish folk musician has built an artistry where quiet precision coexists with humor, touching stories and an unusual sense of collective music-making. Whether he has collaborated with Kieran Hebden of Four Tet, Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip, Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins or, in recent years, Cardigan's Nina Persson, Yorkston has always emerged as a musician who chooses his meetings with great care. Perhaps that is precisely why they always seem both completely organic and completely free from cynicism.
The new album “Songs for Nina and Johanna”, his sixteenth in the series and the third recorded in Stockholm, is another such meeting where the chemistry is experienced as almost telepathic. Here, Nina Persson and First Aid Kit’s Johanna Söderberg share the vocal duties between them and give Yorkston’s low-key stories two different but complementary sound worlds. One gently searching, the other clear and grounded but both deeply sensitive to the material. The result is an album that feels less like a project and more like a room you step into, a world of its own. In April, James Yorkston will take this acclaimed album with him on an eight-concert tour of Sweden together with Johanna Söderberg.
"There are few things I enjoy more than sharing a stage with fantastic musicians. Johanna's voice is a wonder to me, and every time we've sung together, it's had me wide-eyed and grinning. These shows are something I am very much looking forward to”, says James Yorkston.
“I am so looking forward to sharing the stage with James this spring. James is a fantastic live artist and his songs really come to life live. We will be bringing the talented musician and producer Daniel Bengtson with us on the tour and will be playing a great mix of James' songs, some First Aid Kit songs and covers. I think these shows could be something very special!”, says Johanna Söderberg.