My earliest memory is of a recurring dream/nightmare I had when I was about 4 to 6 years old involving the cast of the then popular children’s television program Johnson and Friends. I remember moments of the dream as vividly as holidays and Christmases from when I was around that age, and there a few other vivid, colourful memories from when I was very young, but are too surreal to have actually happened. Being frightened/abducted or something by a speaking gumball machine is another vivid memory from some indistinct youthful era.
A sneaky EP from Yolke that really gets the mind whirling. Real Memories is to be listened with beard stroking in mind.
This got me thinking – how do we know our memories are real? These things never happened to me, yet they obviously happened somewhere in my brain at some point, otherwise I wouldn’t remember them. Other than via affirmation from my peers, of which I have few, it is entirely possible that my entire life as I remember it is wildly inaccurate or even completely falsified. Think Moon. Think Rick Deckard. Think Shadow in Sonic Adventure 2.
If this question of psycho-philosophy needed a soundtrack, it would be Yolke. They’re a four piece who blend a live recording aesthetic with progressive ambient electronica. It’s very, very interesting stuff, and while it won’t make you want to get up and dance, it will make you want to stroke your beard and go “hmm”. The perfect lounge music for the armchair philosopher.
Real Memories is the third installment in Yolke’s series of introspective releases. From the party ending opener waves to the dancefloor emptying closer tense, the album gives an unexpected sense of claustrophobia. Krauty drumbeats and heavily effected vocal refrains reminisce of an earlier era of Deerhunter – something between Microcastle and that awesome EP that I can’t remember the name of. Indeed, that latter song is by far the most like Nothing Ever Happened that you can get without actually buying an octave pedal.
What also sets this apart from the rest of their (wonderfully named) label’s roster is the sense that there is some fun happening somewhere behind the curtains of production. Not only would you enjoy yourself at one of Yolke’s gigs, they’re also generically enjoyable enough to take your less psychedelically minded friends to go see them.
Real Memories is out now digitally and on vinyl via Fallopian Tunes.
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