James Yorkston shares new video for 'The Irish Wars of Independence'

As this year’s winter began to recede, James Yorkston released his new album The Route To The Harmonium. His first solo album since 2014’s Cellardyke Recording And Wassailing Society, it was produced by Yorkston alongside his longtime collaborator David Wrench. An intensely personal album; The Route To The Harmonium is the sound of home, and friends and family, past and present swim all over his songs.

As he heads off to play a string of shows in Europe and ahead of a headline UK tour in May, Yorkston shares the new video for album track ‘The Irish Wars of Independence’, directed by Yorkston himself.

One of the three spoken word pieces on the album, ‘The Irish Wars of Independence’ is not directly political, though politics and religion are both on the receiving end of Yorkston’s tongue. “I was not caught up in the Irish wars of Independence,” he deadpans, at the thrum of the song’s opening. “Except by the noose of a religion, hung around the neck of a gullible schoolboy.”

Elsewhere, the song explores his many boyhood summers in West Cork, looking back on what he calls ‘the dream of childhood’. It’s first person, hypnotic, and sounds like non-fiction – though listeners would be wise to avoid literal interpretations. The playful, the imaginative, are always present. “When I was a child, I met the devil in Ireland / Did I ever tell you that my love? / It may just explain my transitory ways”. In that line, many possibilities lurk and that is one of Yorkston’s great skills, to be able to portrait a character, a life, in a single line. 

On James Yorkston’s podcast, he recently recorded a special on The Route To The Harmonium with guests Phill Jupitus and Stephen Marshall . Listen here.

The Route to the Harmonium is available to buy on Dom Mart-exclusive green vinyl (w/ signed poster), deluxe green vinyl (w/ poster), standard vinyl (w/ poster), CD and digitally. Buy: Dom Mart | Digital

Upcoming James Yorkston live shows

3rd April – Unter Deck, Munich Tickets

4th April – Heimathafen, Berlin Tickets

5th April – Pygméteatern, Stockholm Info

2nd May - Summerhall, Edinburgh Tickets

3rd May - Òran Mór, Glasgow Tickets

4th May – Airdrie Town Hall, Airdrie Tickets

5th May - Waiting Room, Eaglescliffe Tickets

6th May - Brudenell Social Club, Leeds Tickets

7th May - Islington Assembly Hall, London Tickets

8th May - Reading Arts Centre, Reading Tickets

9th May – Gallery, Milton Keynes Tickets

10th May – Dukes, Lancaster Tickets

11th May – Old Cinema Launderette, Durham Tickets

13th May – Louisiana, Bristol Tickets

14th May - The Moon, Cardiff Tickets

15th May – The King’s Arms, Manchester Tickets

16th May - Trades Hall, Hebden Bridge Tickets

22nd May – Johnstone Library, Johnstone Tickets

23rd May - Harbour Arts Centre, Irvine Tickets

24th May – Tolbooth, Stirling Tickets