Phillipe Roberts
Generously spacious but entirely unhurried, Olden Yolk’s self-titled debut swoops in with the right kind of confidence. Swaggering over with a combination of city slicker conversational chops and backwoods innocence, the four-piece turns on the understated charm in a big way to sell the heady concepts at work in their first collection of songs. One of the latest releases by do-no-wrong Chicago label Trouble in Mind, the album sets folk tunes written by the songwriting duo of Shane Butler and Caity Shaffer loose in a wilderness of experimentation, patiently allowing the krautrock impulses of drummer Dan Drohan and immersive ambience of guitarist Jesse DeFrancesco to re-write their DNA. The cross-bred end result is a fantastic hybrid that breaks down ideas in a quietly ambitious coup on the boundaries of folk.
Without giving away too much, Olden Yolk functions more like a laboratory for the varied tastes and influences of its collaborators than a firm statement of purpose. It’s a series of experiments in varying mixtures of hip-hop, psychedelic rock, and chiming folk. From the cinematic waltz of opener “Verdant” to the dusty, droning raga rock of “Takes One to Know One”, the band take a subtle touch in integrating those flavors into a worthy cocktail that can still leave you guessing. The sighing “Verdant”, for example, rides a beautiful descending melody into its sludgy “Happiness is a Warm Gun”-style conclusion, with a careful precision that negates any jarring uneasiness. What’s more, the ease with which they shift gears so early sets a precedent that makes future switch-ups fall more softly on the ear. Even in stretches that feel undercooked, like the intro to “Vital Signs,” which meanders a bit too long, you learn to keep a bit of faith that another titanic earworm is right around the corner. Give it time to spread out and even “Vital Signs” finds ways to surprise you, morphing into Stereolab-esque sunshine pop and taking a detour into dark, violin-screeching soundscapes on its way to becoming the most accessible song on the record.
“Vital Signs” is one of two songs helmed vocally by Caity Shaffer, and her songs further break the mold in contrast to Shane Butler’s more committed folk stylings. Mixed in with oceanic field recordings, her other track, “After Us,” is an elegant yet desolate ballad that forgoes any percussive chatter to float in its own gorgeous misery instead.
While Shaffer develops the more convincing atmospheres, Butler’s talent for brisk character portraits keeps the pace and mood generally elevated. He tends to wax philosophical, but from a place of friendly ribbing rather than high-horse mocking. “Cut to the Quick” finds its feet quickly, tearing off at a sprightly jog as strings weave in and out, but it’s the probing lyrics (“Did you find your way out / After rolling with the clique / Did you start to feel scared / Did you start to feel sick?”) that bring it home to roost, whether you’re the clique escapee or not. He yearns for more out of gray-brick city living, and wants to help you get there too: “If you come I’ll watch you talk / If you walk, I’ll walk along with you,” he coos on the rambling “Gamblers on a Dime.” Olden Yolk are far more interested in probing and encouraging your thoughts than imposing their own.
For all of these selective moments of individual excellence, it’s the all-hands-on-deck closer “Takes One to Know One” that works best as a statement of Olden Yolk’s driving purpose. Drohan lays down a note-perfect CAN beat straight out of Ege Bamyasi, DeFrancesco squeals out distorted out-of-phase responses, and the circular, acoustic guitar picking makes it feel like it could glide on forever, frozen in a strange dystopian ecstasy. “Have faith in dark days / They will turn around,” goes a group chant that functions as a chorus. For a project taking such playful leaps of faith and sticking the landing track to track, the cheesy platitude is dead-on as a mission statement.