Leaving the Athletes at home for this mini-album jaunt on Spain’s Houston Party label, James Yorkston sounds just as lovely without his running partners; distilling large ideas down into slight yet reflective pieces, like a latter day Yasuijro Ozu. Oh yeah… Opening with the banjo-flecked ‘Seven Streams’, Yorkston tumbles forth with unbridled grace, before introducing a wheezing accordion for the candid ‘The Sea Song’ and hushed solipsism of ‘I Awoke’. Sounding very much like an acoustic version of his fully fledged band, ‘Hoopoe’ is a gorgeous record that is heat-prickled throughout by lambent loveliness.
