James Yorkston & Nina Persson, Edinburgh review: 'an enchanting chamber-folk partnership'

James Yorkston & Nina Persson, Queen's Hall, Edinburgh ★★★★

Reuniting live for the first time in 18 months for this first date of their UK tour, James Yorkston and Nina Persson could be forgiven a little ring-rustiness, and they twice launched into different songs to one another, to theirs' and the crowd's amusement.

The pair who teamed up for 2023 album The Great White Sea Eagle, and again on Yorkston's latest, Songs for Nina and Johanna, which also features Persson's fellow Swede Johanna Söderberg of indie-folk duo First Aid Kit, have cultivated an enchanting chamber-folk partnership, their lyrical melancholy both tender and receptive to the darkening embrace of autumn.

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Opening numbers A Sweetness In You and An Upturned Crab from the former record were plaintive yet affectionate celebrations of the love of children and laments for the passing of time, with the spectre of death looming in the background. On stage, the diminutive but charismatic Persson brings a puckish humour to match Yorkston's wry, easygoing wit. Yet on these initial songs the former Cardigans singer was elusively enigmatic, suffusing the raw open wounds of his lyrics with bittersweet reflection, as the pair's harmonies ebbed and flowed with an elemental tide of empathy suggesting they've been working together forever.

Of the new cuts, I Can Change is a charming, pop-inflected snapshot of a relationship just about clinging on, three minutes of the pair's voices breaking in desperate questioning over where the faults lie. Meanwhile, the emotional sophistication of Persson's vocal framed Love/Luck with a suspicious air that rescued it from twee sentimentality, with the spark of excitement and the fire of a new human connection forged ultimately blossoming into romantic ardour. Encoring with the lolloping, short but sweet Hold Out For Love ensured that the night sustained that yearning note.

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