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.

Album number three from Quilt thankfully finds them sticking to what they do best & not leaving the psych behind in favour of pseudo-disco as other acts of their ilk have done of late. No bids for the low spiritual reward of mainstream success here.

With all the well-loved elements of the quartet’s sound firmly in place and the quality so readily evident on Plaza’s predecessors Quilt and Held In Splendor clear for all to see once again, the reviewer is left with a bit of a difficulty when it comes to writing the thing up. For established fans it’s everything you’ve likely hoped for and for those new to the band it’s as easily accessible a place to start with them as either albums one and two were. No jarring changes, no rough edges (not that it’s in any way polished or over-produced), those sweet harmonies and the overall warmth and encapsulation the band are known for.

Consistency can be hard to maintain but despite a growing fanbase & the worldwide touring that requires to keep it happy Quilt’s eight feet seem as rooted as ever in their home environment & its influences. Indeed as one of those aforementioned new fans you’d easily be forgiven for assuming this to be a debut album, so steeped in its own world does it seem. The boys possibly sing a couple more of the songs than in the past but, played back to back, the band’s output to date could all have been put down on tape in one big session years ago and just be getting drip-fed to the listening public, such is the pure and unchanging nature of what they’ve come up with here.

Nothing ever happens slowly here (languid is much more apt) and the flow is sped up a couple of times (‘Own Ways’, ‘Roller’) so there’s plenty of variety on offer. A solid listen from start to finish and a wise addition to the collection of discerning purchasers. 

Plaza is available from amazon & iTunes.