Delivering a pastoral, psychedelic folk-rock with a particularly haunted, sepia-tinted quality, New York-based
Olden Yolk was founded by
Quilt's
Shane Butler. The project had expanded to a band fronted by
Butler and co-singer/songwriter
Caity Shaffer by the time its first full-length, 2018's
Olden Yolk, was released.
Olden Yolk established its updated take on '60s folk-rock inspirations in 2012, when
Butler decided to release some solo songs. After making a split 7" with
Weyes Blood under the moniker in 2014, he eventually joined forces with another singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist in
Shaffer. The two met in 2016 and began their partnership by exchanging poems. Recorded with their touring band of guitarist Jesse DeFrancesco and drummer
Dan Drohan (Uni Ika Ai), the project's full-length debut,
Olden Yolk, was released by Trouble in Mind Records in 2018. The like-minded
Living Theatre arrived on the label the following year with collaborators including
Jarvis Taveniere (
Woods),
Frank Maston (
Maston),
Eliza Bagg (
Pavo Pavo), and percussionist
Booker Stardrum (
Landlady). ~ Marcy Donelson