''The Wide, Wide River'' is an album by the Scottish singer-songwriter

James Yorkston James Yorkston (born James Patrick Yorkston Wright; 21 December 1971) is a Scottish folk musician, singer-songwriter and author from the village of Kingsbarns, Fife. He has been releasing music since 2001. As well as recording as a solo artist, ...

, recorded in collaboration with the Swedish collective The Second Hand Orchestra. Produced by Yorkston and Karl-Jonas Winqvist, it was released by Domino Records in January 2021.

Background

The Second Hand Orchestra are a Swedish music collective, led by Karl-Jonas Winqvist and featuring guitarist

Peter Morén Peter Andreas Morén (born 5 May 1976) is a Swedish musician. He is the guitarist and vocalist of the indie rock trio Peter Bjorn and John. He is also a founding member of the Stockholm-based artist collective INGRID. He was born and raised i ...

of the pop band

Peter Bjorn and John Peter Bjorn and John are a Swedish indie pop/rock band formed in Stockholm in 1999, named after the first names of the band's members: Peter Morén (vocals, guitar and harmonica), Björn Yttling (bass guitar, keyboards and vocals) and John Eriks ...

. The songs were recorded over two studio sessions, with the band not having heard the material prior to recording.

Critical reception

''The Wide Wide River'' was met with "universal acclaim" reviews from critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 82 based on 6 reviews.

AnyDecentMusic? AnyDecentMusic? is a website that collates album reviews from magazines, websites, and newspapers. Primarily focused on popular music – covering rock, pop, electronic, dance, folk, country, roots, hip-hop, R&B, and rap – albums are adjudg ...

gave the release a 7.1 out of 10 based on 7 reviews. The album received positive reviews from the music press. In a review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Timothy Monger wrote: "Spontaneity has always been an element of Yorkston's style, but the loose group-mind feel captured here yields appealingly fresh and intimate results. Against his half-spoken musings, a celestial array of jangling guitars, strings, and flutes play out, lifting the music up in a Scottish-Scandinavian communion of burgeoning friendship." ''

Folk Radio UK Folk Radio UK, is an online Independent Music Journal covering a broad range of Folk music, Global music, Independent music, American Primitive Guitar, Drone Music and other alternative offerings. Established in 2004 by Alex Gallacher. the websi ...

'' praised the improvisatory feel of the music, saying, "There is space all over this album – thinking space, breathing space – space to be interpreted by the musicians and also by listeners", and describing the album as a "career highlight" for Yorkston. The

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' said the album's tracks are "hopeful experiments that have the warm, relaxed feel of a Scottish pub’s improv session." '' Clash'' magazine rated the album 8/10 and said, "But the music! It’s contagious joy to hear players with such abandon and intuition, braiding their lines together..." Writing for ''

Loud and Quiet ''Loud and Quiet'' is a British bi-monthly music magazine that focuses on new music from underground indie, alternative, electronic and hip hop artists. History and profile The magazine was founded in January 2005 by Stuart Stubbs as a home-print ...

'', Sam Reid gave a 7 out of 10, explaining: "Two things are going on here. Yorkston's original songs – all vocal inflections and lyrical specificity – were all written before recording. Then there’s the Second Hand Orchestra, improvising as they go."

Track listing

Performers

– vocals (1–8), guitar (2–8), piano (1) *Karl-Jonas Winqvist – drums (3), percussion (1,2,4–8), bells (5), vocals (3,5) *Emma Nordenstam – cello (1,2,4,8), piano (3,5–7), vocals (1,3,4,6,7) *Daniel Bengtsson – bass guitar (1,4,6,7) *

– electric guitar (1,4,6,7), vocals (1,4,7) *Ulrika "Ullis" Gyllenberg – violin (1–8), vocals (3) *Cecilia Österholm –

nyckelharpa A nyckelharpa (, "keyed fiddle", or literally "key harp", plural ) is the national musical instrument of Sweden. It is a string instrument or chordophone. Its keys are attached to tangents which, when a key is depressed, serve as frets to cha ...

(1,4,6,7), vocals (7) *Per Lager – drums (1,2,4–8) *Felix Wickman – electric guitar (2),

omnichord The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument introduced in 1981 by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It typically features a touch plate known as "Sonic Strings", preset rhythms, auto-bass line functionality, and buttons for ma ...

(5), vocals (1,3,7) *Lars Frederick Swahn – bass guitar (2,3,5,8), electric guitar (5), keyboards (2,5), vocals (5) *Ylva Ceder –

English horn The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an alto ...

(8), vocals (3) *Lina Langendorf – flute (4,6) *Daniel "Våldet" Holmström –

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...

(8)

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2021 albums Domino Recording Company albums James Yorkston albums