Yorkston/Thorne/Khan, Navarasa: Nine Emotions - album review
East meets west as folksy trio Yorkston/Thorne/Khan unite for their third full-length record.
James Yorkston - guitar, nyckelharpa and vocals, Jon Thorne with double-bass and vocals, and Suhail Yusuf Khan on sarangi and vocals make up this intriguing and intricate trio.
For music aficionados they will again provide a wondrous and deep-thinking delve into a mixture of sounds. As a spokesman said: "Yorkston weaves in Scottish folk, sangster and literary strands. Thorne is grounded in jazz and groove. Khan brings northern Indian classical, light classical - thumri for example - and Sufi devotional musical and literary forms."
For those who got lost in the above quote, then this will be a dense and meaty encounter with music. It's nine tracks long, but these are stretched over 57 minutes and 38 seconds, so not one to just dip into on a quick commute across town.
There's often dark and gloomy vibes. The Shearing's Not For You "tells a story about a soon-to-be-mother, being abandoned by the itinerant father of their soon-to-be-born child", so yeah, it's not light and airy. They build the emotive context well with sad, heartbroken guitars trying to drag the song forwards as Khan adds extra layers of pain over the top. It's beautiful in its own little way, but slow and hard going.
The most 'traditional' British folk number if you like musically might be Westlin Winds, a softer, meandering song that gives Khan the freedom to open his lungs and show off his vocal style with little distraction from elsewhere. This is a great example of the east meets west vibe.
There are lighter moments though. The solely vocal Twa Brothers is an interesting concept as reverberating sounds weave the main lyrical content together like a curtain that pulls back and forth between the lines to protect the scene changes. It's the most interesting point on the record.
Waliyan Da Raja is the most frenetic track with its frantic pace and hand clapping controlling the wall of sound the three musicians combine to build with a panicky, threatening vibe.
In short, sharp visits to their music your everyday listener will be able to pull bits out to enjoy. But together as one body of music, it's just too much and too long.
Rating: 5/10
Yorkston/Thorne/Khan play the MAC Arts Theatre in Birmingham's Cannon Hill Park on March 12
