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.

Christchurch's Salad Boys return to build on the foundations laid by their 2015 debut Metalmania and opening track ‘Blow Up’ kicks things off well with plenty of pace, thrashing riffs and welcome vocal clarity.

Despite its title a softer approach is in evidence on ‘Hatred’ and from there on in this is the level things remain at - pacy, cheery, guitar-led indie of a pleasingly straightforward variety.

‘Exaltation’, song number six, introduces a satisfying amount of jangle to the musical mix as well. Salad Boys’ sound certainly fits in well with that of their exalted fellow countrymen in the historic ranks of the Flying Nun label, whilst possessing the modern edge fitting to their being on Trouble In Mind.

Overall the band capture a strong sense of the indie sound of the late Eighties/early Nineties as filtered through the atmosphere of New Zealand. As a result there are many musical touchstones from the eras which had in turn informed that not so distant past (‘Going Down Slow’ certainly brings Pink Floyd to mind). Like the best of such works though this is adamantly not an exercise in nostalgia – Salad Boys are carving out their own niche, thanks very much.

For all that the musical elements of This Is Glue are in the main pretty jaunty Joe Sampson’s vocals & lyrics root the work as a whole to a more introspective place, thereby striking a realistic balance between the high and the low & in the process furnishing us with a record which should stand the test of time well.

Beginning the year with a dozen tracks of this quality sets a yardstick which many a band will fall well short of as 2018 progresses and it can only be hoped that when those reviewers who bother to compile list at the end of it do so their memories stretch all the way back to the start.

This Is Glue is available from either bandcamp or Trouble In Mind.