The Songs and the Poems of the Book of the Gaels — James Yorkston

A quiet, literary solitude colored by grief and the damp chill of coastal winter.

Tracklist · 20 Tracks · 41m

A Clod of Peat

3:25

I Attempt These Lines

2:13

Here Are the Dragonfly

1:26

Cat With Mouse

2:04

Sleep, Sinéad, Sleep

3:46

Art, Music, and Photography

1:48

The Spark of the Light of Our Every Morning

1:43

I Pull a Tiny Leaf

2:02

This Morning Has Not Brought Comfort

2:34

Grey Pencil Upon White Paper

2:54

A Scattering of Sand on Glass

0:53

Oh, Come Gather, Gather Around Me

2:30

There Were Diamonds in the Rough of the Roads

2:34

It's a Killer of a Walk, This

2:18

After All This, This Declaration of Love Business

2:36

The Lough

2:02

A Blissful, Lunatic Fall

0:47

That You Gathered for Kindling

2:05

Irish Peat and Scottish Clay

0:27

Shimmering, Your World Took You Back

1:39

Moments Worth Listening For

The fragile, creaking acoustic guitar on 'A Clod of Peat' that sets the album's stark, literary tone.

The transition into spoken-word poetry on 'Sleep, Sinéad, Sleep' where the music almost entirely drops away.

The brief, skeletal piano chords on 'Grey Pencil Upon White Paper' that feel like ink drying on a page.

Where This Album Departs

How does The Songs and the Poems of the Book of the Gaels sound next to the rest of James Yorkston's catalogue?

This album stays in step with the catalogue across the board — no axis departs enough to be worth its own note. Hover the dots to see where each one sits.

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