REVIEW: YOKE LORE @ MIDDLE EAST 4/6

By Olivia Pepe

On Tuesday, April 6th at Middle East Downstairs, Yoke Lore captivated the audience with his eclectic energy as he played a variety of songs from his EP Goodpain, a cover of Savage Garden’s “Truly Madly Deeply”, as well as unreleased songs. 

The opener was Leon of Athens, a band that hailed all the way from Athens, Greece to tour with Yoke Lore. Their music was energetic and had the tightly packed concertgoers all dancing. They closed out their set with a song in Greek which Leon, the main singer, announced to the audience, “You won’t understand a word but you will be able to dance”. And dance they did. At the end of their set Leon and his bandmates took a selfie with the crowd to send to his Mother, setting up the intimacy of the show that would continue on throughout Yoke Lore’s performance. 

Adrian Galvin, the man behind Yoke Lore, started out his set with his song “Fake You”. Galvin along with his drummer, Garren Orr, brought enormous energy to the stage right off the bat. Galvin floated around the stage with his banjo accompanied by drums and electronic backing. 

Galvin addressed the crowd like it was a group of old friends. He imparted his wisdom on us as he explained that his song “Only You” was not a love song as many of his listeners may have assumed, but instead a song about how only you can control your reality. In explaining this he quoted Eleanor Roosevelt, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”, this quote being the inspiration for the song. 

Galvin excited the crowd by playing a couple of unreleased songs, one of them which will be released this Friday April 8th, “Shock Flesh”. One of his songs, “Tom Robinson”, Galvin only plays live because he wants to preserve the essence of the song with his live audience. He remarked on how special it was to be performing live again after live performances were put to a halt for so long.

“Let’s sing a song” Galvin proclaimed with a smile before he played the opening notes of “Beige”, one of his most popular songs. He stood at the edge of the stage beginning the song with just his voice accompanied with his Banjo as the crowd roared the lyrics along with him. That was the last song of his set before he came back on to play two more songs ending with his song “Goodpain” off of his EP also titled Goodpain.  

The entire show felt incredibly intimate as Galvin spoke to the crowd with ease. For the only live instruments on stage being banjo and drums, Yoke Lore’s sound was full and dynamic. 

Yoke Lore’s sound is refreshing and creative. He brings a unique sound to the Pop-indie genre that Yoke Lore is a part of. Galvin’s music is elevated by his stage presence and the vocals and instrumentals sounded arguably even better live. This show reminded me of the magic of live music, and I marveled at the fact that live concerts are finally back again.