A multi-instrumentalist, a yoga teacher and an avid dancer, Yoke Lore releases ‘Far Shore‘ alongside some of our past favorites, Elohim and Zella Day via B3SCI Records

Words by Yoke Lore

5 things that inspired the Far Shore EP:

Daoist Philosophy: The Daoists live by modeling their lifestyles after the movements of nature. They live through concepts like Yin/Yang and Wu Wey which offer them insights into their personal, physical, and emotional selves. This EP deals a lot with finding grounding. I live to get high. I live to fly, to jump, to leap, to defy and transcend my very concrete limitations. But as the Daoists teach us, nothing get grow tall without being well rooted. A tree will only grow as tall as its roots are deep. A bouncy ball will only bounce higher when you throw it to the ground harder. I want to find more levity in my life, but I know I can only achieve that when I secure true groundedness for myself. Songs like Heavy Love, Hold me Down deal with finding weights in your life to keep you steady to keep you safe, so that you don’t float away, so that you don’t become unhinged. But you decide when its safe to take a leap, because its only safe to leap when have a bunjee keeping you attached; keeping you here.

Climate: I don’t want to sound all emo or anything, but jeez this country and its geography is so powerful. I had a big year and I spent some really special time in the south west desert for the first time, but I also felt at home curled up in an NYC winter. I drove through Utah and saw rocks like I’ve never seen rocks and I felt as though I were roving on an alien planet. I was in the Caribbean and saw water a color that I’ve never seen it. I write about trees and I feel at home in the woods. I am continually amazed by the world and I’m continually in awe of the natural. This EP is a lot of exploration for me, finding out what I need and how I want my life to be structured. And one thing I know is that I want to keep a sense of awe in my life always. I want always to be able to look up at a mountain peak and feel my smallness. I want to look up at a tree and wonder about how we could be made of the same material. I think life is wild and I think its important to stay humble among it’s natural forces and all their majesty.

Change: Life is constant flux. All life is all change. And change is hard. This EP is a lot about changes that happen and how fucking difficult it is to weather those changes sometimes. The world is constantly changing and will continually shift with or without you. Thus change is hard, but only if you resist it. Because you won’t win, the world will. The idea is to constantly be changing yourself, updating your truths and reevaluating your convictions so that you remain the most informed version of yourself. No one stays the same. Stagnation is poisonous. You never drink from still water in the woods, and when you leave food out for too long without cooking it, it becomes oxidized and gets moldy. You don’t want to get moldy.

My Family: I got a juggernaut of a family. They challenge me and support me in so many different ways. I am blessed to be born into a big family were you have to answer for your actions, your creations, your words. This big family also happens to be dominated by artists and actors and writers and I am also blessed to born into a family that makes real things with their hands and voices and relationships. Your family is a microcosm for the world. And I am so thankful that the world I came into challenged me to think about myself critically. To consider my words and actions and how they affect and influence the world around me. They taught me that we are all constantly participating in building our world: the book of Genesis isn’t done yet. And that we have a responsibility to put beautiful things into this world, so that we can all have a better time living.

Usefulness: I know there are so many disparate and valid opinions out there, but this is mine. Art has to be useful in order for it to be meaningful. I strive to write stories that people can identify with. I aim to publish my own experiences so that others can see where I went wrong, so that others don’t encounter the same pitfalls that I do. And if they do, then they can find a confident in me. I want to be a reference point for those who feel disoriented. It’s so easy to get lost these days. Among so much vapid information, its difficult to build earnest dreams. It’s so easy to have a million friends and know no one. I want this EP to be useful for people. Yes I want it to be a pleasurable listening experience, but I want it to challenge people to think about their lives and how they go about their relationships. I want it to make people stop and consider and remember themselves. I want to be useful.