James Yorkston is proving to one of the most consistent and innovative artists practising in the fields of what is loosely defined as folk. An integral member of the semi-legendary Fence Collective of East Fife, whose reach across contemporary music is extraordinary considering their collective (small) size. Yorkston signed to another profoundly influential outlet for contemporary music, Domino Records, and since 2002 has been releasing a string of highly regarded records through them, all the while developing his love of folk along the way, but also recently exploring pastures new, such as here, on this Indian, folk and jazz fusion album, made in collaboration with Lamb double bassist John Thorne and Indian sarangi maestro Suhail Yusuf Khan.

 
Although the phrase 'indian-folk-jazz' fusion may have some running for the exits, it's often forgotten that the Brits have a fine pedigree in the weird and wonderful world of fusion-folk, most notably when The Incredible String Band threatened to make the top of the album charts with The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter album way back '68, a year of revolution, musically and politically.
 
Certainly, we seem to be enjoying a particularly fruitful and creative era as far as the British are concerned. A musical revolution of sorts seems to be in the air, much like ’68. The rulebook is being thrown out with gusto. It enables idiosyncratic music to be made, and when it works it’s like a breath of fresh air.
 
An innovative and collaborative affair, Everything Sacred is an eclectic collection of tracks; from the epic 13 minute opener, to idiosyncratic covers of Ivor Cutler’s LIttle Black Buzzer and Lal Waterson's Song for Thirza. Also In the mix are individual and collaborative compositions by all three.
 
The mood is generally contemplative and devotional, although on epic album opener, the 13 minute Knochentanz (not the Faust track, but a word that means 'dance of the bones’), the trio show what they are made of; basically excellent and creative musicians, able to create music that flows from the serene to the frenzied. Khan, on his sarangi (a bowed, short-necked instrument), and Yorkston take it in turns to take the lead, the grooves and licks rising and falling away, all the while underpinned by Thorne's complimentary bass work, before eventually Khan comes in with his vocal, sung in Indian. And so it goes on, the track a hugely impressive journey.
 
After the intensity of the album opener, it's a clever move to cover Ivor Cutler's heart-warming and funny Little Black Buzzer, Yorkston picking up the Swedish nyckelharpa, and singing along with young Irish musician Lisa O'Neill on this jolly tale that, as always with Cutler, has an underlying and profoundly spiritual message. As does their cover of Lal Waterson’s Song For Thirza, originally written about her grandmother who brought Lal and her siblings up, and is given the typical melancholy vocal treatment by Yorkston, his finger picked motif and Thorne’s sparse bass underpinning the song, with O'Neill again joining on vocals.
 
Vachaspati/Kaavya is the first of two pure instrumentals, this short Indian jazz flavoured devotional piece featuring just Thorne and Khan, while the seven minute album closer Blues Jumped the Goose hinges on Yorkston’s Spanish favoured finger picking, before Thorne and Khan join in, the mood once again gently rising and falling, Khan’s Sarangi alternatively weeping and laughing.
 
Thorne takes over guitar and vocal duties for his folk-based lament and title track Everything Sacred, Khan taking over on vocals for the second half, and singing in his native tongue, while Khan’s Sufi Song features lyrics adapted from the sufi poem by Bulle Shah, the instrumentation once again rising and falling as Khan’s slowly but surely sings with controlled abandon. It’s Yorkston’s turn for the gorgeously melancholy folk flavoured remembrance song Broken Wave (A Song for Doogie), Thorne's double bass anchoring the song, while Khan trades verses with Yorkston.
 
An engaging, innovative and largely successful experimental side project for these three consummate musicians that deserves a wider audience.
Jeff Hemmings