Concert Review: Olden Yolk Are Music Medicine At Mercury Lounge

With music all about growing your identity, Olden Yolk managed to froth the quiet surrealism of the self-identifying process at Mercury Lounge. Treating melodies like Eastern Medicines, meant to ward away bad vibes as you invite in good ones, they played music that was the equivalent of balm and you were the Gilead.

“There is a balm in Gilead that makes wounds whole!” Alright, I am not trying to start a sermon at The Royal Wedding, but Olden Yolk’s music and performance plays on the mysticism of that idea. There is this “time and space” when growing does not hurt, and healing does not feel like a process as much as a purpose. Songs like, “Verdant”, “Vital Sign”, and “Cut To The Quick” stood out in their melodic blends of waning, Moroccan style guitar arrangements and an indie “intimacy”.

Olden Yolk made their self-titled debut this year, and their show proved something that I had noted but never realized about the modern, indie scene: it thrives on an elemental coziness. Genres, like people, grow, and if the “alt-rock” or “indie rock” scene of the 90’s/ 00’s showed gave us anything, it was permission to be emotionally unguarded. Yet, from Phoebe Bridgers to Courtney Barnett, the “new wave” of indie is cozied in it vulnerability, and has seen it is not enough to be emotionally honest if you are not emotionally healing. Thus, their songs played like leisurely step to inner peace.

Vocally led by Shane Butler and backed by Caity Shaffer, Olden Yolk’s voices  give a whipped, creamed effect and a mindful experience. From “Gamblers on a Dime” to “Takes One to Know One”, Butler’s lower, but light register feels like a sweet foam topping over lyrics that are not abut being “dark” or “mysterious” as much as being self-aware and bare. With a screen behind them flashing every image, from explosions to roses, Olden Yolk showed in a world that divides itself between light and dark, they undress both terms to reveal humanity is about both but deciding which way you will tip the scale. For More Information On Olden Yolk Click Here.