NASHVILLE, TN- Yoke Lore is a solo project of Adrian Galvin, formerly a member of Walk The Moon. His infectious brand of indie-pop which blends folk, pop and electronic has garnered a lot of attention, including from Taylor Swift herself as he happened to make her “Songs Taylor Loves” playlist. He released his much-anticipated EP Meditations earlier this year, and has also been steadily releasing even more new music including his latest single “Dead Ringer” (which was released alongside a remix by Young & Sick) and his collaboration with NVDES, “Everybody Wants To Be Loved”.
Monica Moser got to chat with Adrian as he drove through Buffalo, NY about his recent releases and his experience on his first headline tour. Even though it was a quick call, she really connected with Adrian’s sentiments on performing, release strategy and more and not just because she discovered that he was a fellow native New Yorker.
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MM: I discovered you a couple of years ago in Nashville because you opened for Overcoats at The Basement. It was such an intimate show that my friend and I literally got to sit on the floor in the very front. Such a great show.
Adrian: (Laughs) There ya go. That tour was great. It was one of my first and it was awesome to be on the road with Overcoats to learn from them. It was a great introduction to the road as Yoke Lore.
MM: You’ve released quite a bit of content this year. Are you leading up to an album release?
Adrian: Eh. I’m not really considered about albums at the moment. I’m just trying to stay consistently in people’s ears. I very much believe in persistence as a technique, as a strategy, and as a way through. I have a lot of music to make and a lot of words to say and I just want to keep offering them.
MM: I love that.
Adrian: There’s a lot of drama you know, you’ve got big labels and all this time and money involved. And then I can spend a week at an Air BnB with my producer and make an EP and put it out on my own label, and get myself that much further.
MM: It’s cool that the traditional album cycle is going away and artists are really taking the reins. If you can just put things out when you want to put them out I think that’s great.
Adrian: I think it’s a necessary way to operate in this consumption client. You kind of got to play along.
MM: But it’s cool that it aligns with your values [in regards to releasing music] anyway.
Adrian: Yeah I’m totally open to taking it as I go and offering more bite-sized portions to reach more people. I feel like an album has more depth to it and more substance to it, but as a body of work, it’s a bit harder for people to easily consume and connect. And I want this to be an easy thing for people to connect with.
MM: Were the “gutted,” “unburdened,” etc. (love those descriptors by the way) versions you’ve released fun experiments in the studio or inspired by how you’ve played them differently on the road?
Adrian: I’ve been playing these songs on the road for a couple years now and they’ve taken on lives of their own a bit. I named that EP Meditations because they’ve all become little mantras to me that hold time and space. They’ve become different to me than they were in the beginning so I wanted to give those versions to people so that they might also get a new insight.
MM: This is your first headlining tour on this large of a scale. How has the experience been? Have there been any favorite shows?
Adrian: It’s been great. We’ve sold out a lot of these shows which is been really surprising and fun. Chicago and Salt Lake City were standouts. Salt Lake seems random (laughs) but it’s always great for some reason. These are the biggest rooms we’ve played in and it’s cool to be selling them out on our own tour. It’s crazy. You tell the world you’re gonna be in a room and 500 people show up. It’s wild. It’s cool to see that the equation of touring consistently + putting out great music + caring about it + pushing hard is actually working.
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Blurred Culture will be covering Yoke Lore’s show at the High Watt in Nashville on Monday, November 4th. Vibrant pop/rock band Future Generation will be the opener. This Nashville show marks the beginning of the end of the U.S. leg of Yoke Lore’s tour as they will be heading to the UK in early December.
Check out Yoke Lore’s remaining U.S. & UK. Tour Dates here in https://www.yokelore.com/shows
Follow Yoke Lore on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
