Song of the Day 30/12/2008

James Yorkston And The Athletes - When The Haar Rolls In


It sounds warm and fuzzy, the Haar, doesn't it? Apparently it's far from it. It's a cold and biting fog, that, as the song suggests, rolls in off the sea on the East coast of Scotland. James Yorkston's from there - the East Neuk of Fife, to be precise - and it's exactly this kind of thing that's been providing him with fodder for his rolling, lolling, rollicking folk tunes for years.

This particular song is the title track from his latest album, which is an all-round winner. Forget choruses, forget rhyming couplets. This is song-writing at its barest and most accomplished. And it's my favourite track from my favourite album of the year.

The vid, I'm afraid, is nicked from someone's bike ride around Scotland, and it's rather literal, so I invite you instead to sit by a warm fire in the rain and let it all wash over you. The music that is, not the Haar. We wouldn't want you to catch a chill.

When the Haar rolls in, it's just a question of waiting things out
And that's when the music, I swear, gets me through
I close my eyes
And everything's OK

Amen to that.