Yoke Shire

Masque of the Shadows
by Scott Hefflon

There’s no easy way to describe Yoke Shire. You could call them prog rock, but that would fail to incorporate the quiet tinklings of keyboards, the eerie synths, theremin (and other instruments listed that I couldn’t tell you what they are if I tried) and a glockenspiel. While some of the songs slither along like classic Zappa (a little jazz, some scorching guitarwork, duck-walkin’ bass, and oozing vocals matched with triangle tapping or something), others tickle the heavens like Pink Floyd, and some, like the nine-minute “The Brook, the Mirror and the Maiden,” chant and file through dark caves and forests like the Druids. Bordering on New Age at times, yet with real instruments and human passion, not synth Prozac. A singular band that defies trends and categorization.
(PO Box 397 N. Chelmsford, MA 01863 www.yokeshire.com)