James Yorkston, Nina Persson and The Second Hand Orchestra Great White Sea Eagle CD

On January 13th, James Yorkston, Nina Persson and The Secondhand Orchestra will release The Great White Sea Eagle, the follow up to James Yorkston and The Secondhand Orchestra’s The Wide, Wide River - a Guardian Top 10 Folk Album of 2021.  
 
Yorkston and Sweden’s The Secondhand Orchestra had no real plans to do a follow up, but as James visited his studio in Cellardyke, Fife everyday in early 2021, he began to start writing songs on the piano as opposed to his usual guitar as he gazed upon the sea outside his window.  
 
After sending the first five or six songs to Karl-Jonas Winqvist (the leader/conductor of TSHO), they began to discuss working on the music together. With Yorkston’s shift from guitar to piano, they thought about what other changes they could make to their process which led to the involvement of a guest singer and the legendary Nina Persson (The Cardigans) was brought into the fold.  
 
They followed the same methodology as The Wide, Wide River – apart from James, Nina and KJ, none of The Secondhand Orchestra had heard the music prior to entering the studio – and the arrangements were made up on the spot. Yorkston summarises: “We went for the ‘loose is best’ theory, we didn't over rehearse or fret too much about things being perfect. I think that's all audible. The album sounds (to me), very relaxed and free. And the piano has opened up a new sonic palette. The whole thing has been great fun”. 
 
The Great White Sea Eagle follows the release of Yorkston’s latest novel and The Times Book of the Month, The Book of the Gaels.