The Scotsman Sessions #431: James Yorkston & Nina Persson

James Yorkston has been forging musical connections for most of his creative career, first in his native Fife as part of the Fence Collective, with artists and associates including King Creosote, KT Tunstall and Pictish Trail. Later, in part thanks to his long running relationship with indie label Domino Records, he teamed up with Indian sarangi player Suhail Yusuf Khan and English double bassist Jon Thorne as Yorkston/Thorne/Khan, where he would often wield the nyckelharpa, a Swedish bowed chordophone.

James Yorkston and Nina Persson | Contributed

He has doubled down on Swedish connections in recent years. His work with Stockholm’s Second Hand Orchestra directly led to a sublime partnership with Swedish indie pop legend Nina Persson, frontwoman of The Cardigans. She became his vocal foil on 2023 album The Great White Sea Eagle, then on tour round Europe and again on the recently released Songs for Nina and Johanna.

“Nina has such a beautiful voice, full of life and experience,” says Yorkston. “It allows me to hear my songs in a perfect setting. I love the way she interprets the material. I always think that at the gigs, I have the best seat in the house, watching her sing, night after night.”

Scotsman readers now have a ringside seat too, as Yorkston and Persson perform an exclusive Scotsman Sessions rendition of their song Rabbit, filmed backstage at a show “after soundcheck but before supper” and chosen “as there was an interesting sounding piano available to play it on.”

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Rabbit is the moving centrepiece of Songs For Nina and Johanna - the latter being Johanna Söderberg of First Aid Kit who joined the Scandi love-in after being suggested as a complimentary third voice by Second Hand Orchestra leader Karl-Jonas Winqvist and the album’s producer Daniel Bengtson.

“When two such people recommend someone, I would be a fool not to explore their advice,” says Yorkston. “I listened to Johanna's music and from the first song I knew she would be perfect. Her voice is full of love and fun and a more youthful enthusiasm. She is like when you turn up at a folk session and there is a singer there who completely surprises everyone with their incredible voice.”

READ MORE: Album reviews: James Yorkston and Friends | Tom Grennan | Adrian Sherwood

With the latest Yorkston/Persson duo shows completed, Yorkston will head out solo in December. There will be a further diversion into literature with the publication of another book next year (“if we can get over a final few hurdles”), but it is only a matter of time before his musically itchy feet take Yorkston to some other locale.

“I used to run a club night called The Barrelhouse, where the tag line was 'quality music from around the world’ and that kinda sums up my musical interests,” he says. “I've landed in Sweden for now, but it could have been anywhere... Yorkston/Thorne/Khan had us touring in India a few times, for example. I do feel very at home in Sweden though. There's a lot of language interplay between Scots and Swedish that is fascinating. And the shows are a huge amount of fun, which is key.”

Songs for Nina and Johanna is out now. James Yorkston plays the CCA, Glasgow, on 5 December and the Tolbooth, Stirling, on 6 December, see www.jamesyorkston.co.uk

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