The new tribute to Ivor Cutler, Return To Y'Hup: The World of Ivor Cutler by Citizen Bravo, Raymond MacDonald and Friends, out now on Chemikal Underground, is one of the most interesting releases of 2020 so far. Even if you're not familiar with the late Scottish humorist and musician who's the subject of this set, the presence of so many Scottish musicians of note here should guarantee that the album finds its way onto your radar.
While some of this, like "Size Nine and a Half", featuring Emma Pollock from The Delgados, seems fairly conventional, other numbers, like "Gravity Begins at Home", featuring Rick Redbeard, venture farther afield. And while lots of Cutler's lyrics are absurdist and funny, the music underneath the selections on Return To Y'Hup: The World of Ivor Cutler is brave and risky, but fairly accessible to any fan of this label, or these musicians. "Vitamin P" with Duglas T. Stewart of BMX Bandits, and "Instance the Yam", with Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand, are spoken word bits and fairly inconsequential, even as Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian is given more to do with the brief but tuneful "Sh Chi". Still, for all the bits and bobs that are experimental, or surrealist, the real highlight here is "Women of the World" with lead vocalist Tracyanne Campbell of Camera Obscura. The lilting number allows a pretty hook to anchor a really sincere and impassioned bit of sentiment.
Return To Y'Hup: The World of Ivor Cutler is an admirably ambitious project, and one which will see a live performance undertaken this coming week for those in the U.K. I don't suppose you need to know much about Ivor Cutler to enjoy this, but a passing familiarity would help. Still, even those coming into this completely ignorant should find moments of tunefulness to enjoy here.
Return To Y'Hup: The World of Ivor Cutler is out now via Chemikal Underground.