Combining acoustic music with electronics can be a tricky thing - it either turns out great or falls flat on its behind. That may be the reason the term with which such music has been dubbed in recent times, Folktronica, practically disappeared faster than it came into use.
Now, UK singer/songwriter James Yuill, who’s been around since the beginning of the century (his first album came out in 2005) has been named as one of the progenitors of the genre. Along with his previous four albums (his latest, A Change In State is his fifth), he is also known in music circles as a producer for acts like “Au Revoir Simone”. Sounds like a pedigree, but what does Yuill have to offer us on A Change In State?
Quite a lot, actually. I did have a chance to listen to a few of his previous albums, and Turning Down Water for Air from 2007 particularly stuck to my mind. Here, on the new album, call it Folktronica or not, Yuill repeats the acoustic/electronic formula, but actually, makes it better, and it seems, a bit more electronic.
His love of gentle acoustics, particularly of the Nick Drake variant remains undiminished, and personally, it should remain so. Here though, he seems to have refined his electronic touches, which have now have become a truly organic part of his music, and not just the incidental background. In a way, most of the songs here have a feel of the good Radiohead tunes they are yet to offer us.
Particularly impressive in that respect is “When In Flames”, one of the strongest titles here. It starts relatively gently to end up with a full electronic flourish and simple sighs that close the songs.
As on his previous albums, Yuill’s voice is the guiding light throughout, wrapping all those seemingly disparate elements into an integral whole. It took Yuill four years to come up with A Change In State after his previous album. Hopefully, we’ll hear from him more frequently from now on.
