“I LOVE pop music, don’t get me wrong. I love a well-put-together pop song. But there’s a real beauty and excitement in exploring what’s going to happen when you just go into a room with someone and you don’t really know what anyone’s going to bring to the table.” Near the end of our conversation, James Yorkston is summing up what for him is so often the starting point. The musician, songwriter, Fifer, is no stranger to collaborating with new musicians and surprising everyone, including himself. “It can be thrilling,” he says. “It can be a disaster as well, of course, but it’s something I love to do.”