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James Yuill Turns Down Water for Live Air in Vancouver
by Reg Seeton
 As a lead-in to the May 26 release of his new album,
"Turning Down Water For Air", UK Indie folktronica
artist, James Yuill, rolled through Vancouver
on May 25 to close out a five city mini-tour as
support for M83. With a stop at the famous Troubadour
in Los Angeles three days in front of him on May
29, James Yuill introduced himself, his acoustic
guitar, and an arsenal of high-tech, computer,
Pro Tools driven electronica beats to an increasingly
captivated Vancouver crowd. Taking to the stage
with an acoustic slung over his shoulder, Yuill
subtly stepped behind a musical wall of Pioneer
gear, keyboard and computer to kick off an electronically
diverse eight song set inside the Vancouver nightclub,
Richard's on Richards.
As the show began at 9:45pm amid a faint mist of white smoke, with the London based folk D.J. grooving in brown dress-pants, an office shirt and a tie, the unassuming James Yuill looked more like he just punched out of the 9 to 5 clock at a corporate office cubicle than a guy out on tour in support of a new album. If you've ever seen an episode of the now defunct HBO series, Extras, starring Ricky Gervais, there's a relatable resemblance in James Yuill to actor Stephen Merchant who played Gervais' agent Darren Lamb. I mean that in a good way, too, since Yuill cracked a few jokes between songs to show his personality, even making fun of his tie.
 Ironically
TheDeadbolt's Troy Rogers had the chance to
chat with Stephen Merchant and he's just as
interesting and diverse in real life as the
music of James Yuill. The weird, tie-this-altogether
thing about Yuill's normal, working dude attire
is that Stephen Merchant was also on the British
version of The Office, which James Yuill looked
like he just stepped out of - an office - to
take the stage. But we all know you can't judge
anything or anyone by appearance alone. As for
the James Yuill sound, it's akin to the early
days of Beck mixed with The Chemical Brothers,
Sufjan Stevens, Thomas Dolby, and James Taylor.
In many respects, Yuill is like the Thomas Dolby
for a new generation in working with mainstream
beats and synths within today's new wave of
Indie artists.
After an opening number that immediately got the crowd's attention when Yuill's remix style beats thumped through the club, the eight song set lured people away from the bar and out of their seats to the dance floor by the minute. It wasn't until James Yuill kicked into the third "Turning Down Water For Air" track, "No Pins Allowed", for his second song that live fans got to see his true talent for blending D.J. beats and distortion with traditional acoustic guitar. Given the acoustic spine that runs through "No Pins Allowed", Yuill skillfully kept pace with the breaks and samples, picking away at the strings as if he were a modern festival D.J. embodiment of Jose Feliciano, or even the great Lindsay Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac.
 To
those in the crowd who may have wondered if
his acoustic guitar was for show only, James
Yuill proved that he's also a traditional musician
at the same time. That was only made more evident
to the Vancouver crowd when Yuill launched into
the new album's fourth track, "This Sweet Love",
a softer, more introspectively acoustic folk
based tune, with minimal electronic elements,
that's easily the most commercially relatable
track on "Turning Down Water For Air". Interestingly,
the song had a much larger than life vibe than
the album since the sound set-up was primed
and maxed to handle the bigger remixed tracks.
In full groove nearly halfway through his set, Yuill then handed the fans "Over the Hills", a melodic yet subtly synth-driven song about reflecting back on life when you're "over the hill". Although James timed the lyrics well, with lines like, "Here is the house where they grew up laughing, our children love us dearly," it was once again the spacious acoustic stage framework that added more weight to the simple and sincere dialogue. After winding the track down into a fractured instrumental break with what sounded like an original redux of the opening beats of Queen's Radio Ga Ga, an awesome loop foundation for a freestyle solo, Yuill served up a high-energy version of the single "No Surprise". With layers of '80s pop-synth, it was the one track from "Turning Down Water For Air" that truly allowed the live James Yuill to take command of his one man show and showcase his mixing/keyboard talents and laptop creativity.
 Although
the eight song set was filled with other new
album songs like "She Said in Jest" and more,
by the end of his time on stage James Yuill
had almost the entire club on the dance floor
and moving. For some it was an introduction
to Yuill and his unique arena of folktronica,
which was evident by some awkward, uncertain
body movements and expressions by a crowd that
was curious to see the traditional mixed and
remixed with electronic beats, samples and layers
that span three decades. Do you hit the dance
floor or do you kick back and sink into the
folk? You can do either one. It's kind of like
the live undercurrent that exists when watching
The Cure. Do you jump up and dance or sink deeper
into your seat and wallow in pain? It's an intangible
and unexpected fusion that somehow works on
two levels at the same time.
The only flaw of the entire night was the fact that some of Yuill's honest, sincere and sweet lyrics that shine through well on "Turning Down Water For Air" were overshadowed in spots by the amplified bass and more expansive beats and original samples. Despite the small confines of that compressed set, James Yuill turned the bottled folk water that flowed through the club into awesome, high-energy electronic air in Vancouver.
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