Olden Yolk - Olden Yolk

Given the recent weather here in Edinburgh the release date for this, the debut, self-titled album from Olden Yolk couldn't have been better chosen. Over the past few days of listening to it the weather's undergone a distinct shift from wintry to spring-like; the sun's been out for whole days and journeys for the 9-to-5 are now beginning & ending in daylight. As a soundtrack to this seasonal improvement Olden Yolk has been ideal.

Consisting in the main of Shane Butler (of Quilt) and Caity Shaffer the band's sound certainly contains elements of Butler's other group (imagine a male singing all of their output & you'll get an idea). Additionally though there's a bit more pace across the ten tracks as well as some of the urgency you'd expect from a New York band (similar at moments to Kurt Vile's work).

'Gamblers On A Dime' provides some exceptional blissed out tuneage to perfectly counterbalance the faster, more playful numbers. At no time though does the record veer into "nice" territory (a fault The Skinny recently accurately attached to Belle & Sebastian's current output) - these are songs dealing forthrightly with the band's immediate surroundings, elevating them into, in the words of the press release, "an urban psychedelia".

In the same way that The Velvet Underground & Nico (Shaffer brings her to mind on 'Vital Sign') manages to be downbeat lyrically but musically puts a spring in your step Olden Yolk contains plenty of snatches of tune & melody to have you humming them as you go through the day.

Finishing off with a track double the length of anything else on the album ('Takes One To Know One') to gently but definitely hammer home the quality of what you've been experiencing, Olden Yolk is yet another great release on Trouble In Mind and one that will continue to make the grade in coming years.

Olden Yolk is available from bandcamp here.