Part of a series exploring the deeper and more meaningful parts of my playlists.

The next album I wanted to mention is this one;

Yvonne lives but a strong stone-skim from us, over the other side of the Clyde in Greenock, and although we have the pleasure of counting her as a friend, let that not fool you. I can be very judgemental about music. It needs to make me weep remember?

Yvonne has been making lovely music for years. She writes songs that find their way inside you. You might appreciate their craft, but ultimately songs like this have the capacity to become close friends. The sort that carry you through the difficult times.

In my view, this album is her best yet. It starts with some stomping folk, takes turns through some electronica, but remains all about the songs. Strange then that these are not new songs. Yvonne has released them before on other albums, but this time, she took the great risk of handing over control to others to re-mix and re-shape. The end result is a varied jewel of an album that does not detract from her own creativity but adds to it, stretches it even. It is no surprise (but a great pleasure) to see it getting rave reviews.

Yvonne has been honest about how this album emerged out of a difficult time in her life and this is carried in the music, which often seems to contain an honest fragility. It is perhaps this that I respond to most, because glimpses of beauty and brokenness in the other allows me to see the same in myself.

Ultimately the album is about hope, so here is a track from the album called She survived the winter.