A few weeks ago I drove up to Charlotte from Charleston to see Jack’s Mannequin on their MFEO tour, celebrating 20 years of their album Everything in Transit. Little did I know, I’d walk away with my newest music obsession, Yoke Lore, the show opener. The name Yoke Lore wasn’t new to me. I’d saved a few songs by that name in my library at some point that I’d picked up from playlists. The tune that I had on repeat most often was a song called Bravado. So, when Jack’s Mannequin announced that Yoke Lore would be joining them on tour, I was pretty stoked. Mostly because it had been on my to do list for years to go listen to more music by them. By the time the show came around, I still hadn’t managed to go check out more music, and I walked into the show with the mindset, ‘let’s see if they can win me over.’ Who doesn’t love a good challenge? It really feels like they had an ‘alright, bet’ moment backstage – because win me over they did.
Firstly, the guy walked out with a banjo, so, half the battle was already won because I’m a sucker for a banjo. The set began with Cruciform I, the opening song off their album Toward a Never Ending New Beginning, and I had what can only be described as a very grounding experience. I’ll liken it to a weighted blanket. It was comforting, but I literally couldn’t move and was completely entranced by the soundscape surrounding me. Then there was a shift in the music as he reached the line, ‘but you know what I want, I want skin on skin,’ and my body responded by releasing this invisible weighted blanket, transitioning into a more euphoric like state. Dramatic? Maybe. Accurate? Definitely. That song is 1 minute and 17 seconds so it’s safe to say that he won me over in less than a minute. Softy, the next song up in the set, made it abundantly clear that I’d made a grave mistake in not taking time to listen to his ever growing catalog of music sooner. The realization that I’d been depriving myself of this music for YEARS was one giant, ‘you played yourself’ moment. Especially when he got to the part of the song where the music expands as he belts out, ‘I just want to love you.’ The way my mouth fell open was actually embarrassing. The only thing that kept repeating in my mind as I was watching this unfold was, ‘this is beautiful, I love everything about this.’
He continued the show with several other songs I’d never had the pleasure of hearing (my bad), while incorporating cathartic dance and movement that only made you feel closer to each tune. It was kind of breathtaking to watch someone move their body so freely. You know the saying, ‘dance like no one’s watching’? That’s exactly what he does. Like when you’re in your living room dancing around without fear of judgement. It reminded me of when I took a theater class when I was 10 or 11 years old, and our teacher would start every class by playing music and encouraging us to move our bodies to what we felt. I can’t begin to express how stupid I felt when we first started, but there’s a release that comes with it that I grew to love. I haven’t done anything like that since those classes, and it was a beautiful thing to feel that again through someone else.
As you may already know, researching a new artist is a favorite pastime of mine. I quickly learned that Yoke Lore is the moniker for Adrian Galvin, former drummer of Walk the Moon. The one tune I always listen to by that band is a song called Anna Sun that Galvin co-wrote about a personal experience he had in college. Turns out, I’ve been drawn to his music for a while and had no idea.
Spotify describes his music as ecstatic folk pop which is pretty spot on. If you ever get a chance to see him live, do it. That gig was genuinely in my top 3. I haven’t loved a show like this in a long while, and I would relive it a thousand times over if I could. I’m posting songs from the set below. For more information follow him on instagram or visit his website.