'Midnight Train' by Yonderland

As noted in my round-up from the 2024 Warwick Folk Festival, one of my personal discoveries was the duo Yonderland whom CVFolk's Pete Willow had already commended to me & whose set I finally caught on the stage he was curating.

At that point they definitely went on my list of bands to see again if possible and whose recorded work needed checking out.

However they pre-empted me on the latter as, picking up on my mention, very kindly sent me a copy of their current album ‘Midnight Train': though from what they tell me, the next one shouldn't be too long in coming down the track.

Recorded (like the critical & popular hit ‘Tiny Boat' by Lauren South) by Bill Bates at Leamington's Heathcote Studios, it's refreshing to hear more original material of this calibre: some of which I heard at the festival.

The pair are multi-instrumentalists/vocalists Jane Moss (who plays ukulele & percussion) and Paul Monks (guitar, tenor mandola, bass & percussion being his instruments) and in an interesting feat of equality & democracy, the dozen tracks featured are split between them in terms of composition.

There are "On Chesil Beach", "Cherry Blossom Street", "Sun in My Eyes", "Purple", "Turn of the Tide" and "I've Been Here Before" by Jane and Paul's "Little Bird", Teracotta" (sic), "High Water Line", "Le Voyage Dans La Lune", "Changes in the Wind" and "(Sleeping on the) Midnight Train".

Equally democratically, these alternate between the writers in sequence.

The arrangements match the live versions on this record, though I understand that the next one will venture into larger production territory. What this turns out to be will be interesting: in the meantime what attracted me to Yonderland was how they delivered their well crafted & imaginative songs in such an open way: good quality musicianship for sure but otherwise keeping arrangements simple with the song at the heart of the performance.

And that's really the theme of the album & this review. The album title focuses on a train, but there are so many maritime themed songs that it seems that, like ‘Hot Music Live Presents' featured band The Sunbathers, Yonderland's hearts are drawn to the shore: and that seems to unite both writers.

The mood is a set of gentle, charming songs whose mood fits perfectly with the subject matter. Just listening to this album can heal you if your stress level has risen too high.

Like all well-constructed ones, it starts & ends with very strong tracks ("On Chesil Beach", and  "(Sleeping on the) Midnight Train") which are highlights of their live set. The former tells you what you are going to experience & the latter signs you off just as effectively. In between you voyage through poignancy, a little melancholy and a lot of mindful enjoyment of being somewhere rather special.

A manifestation of serendipity led me to this beautiful collection & an aura of that quality informs the songs. I'm glad to be able to recommend them & their creators to you.