YAELOKRE

YAELOKRE

If you ever feel as if music has lost its capacity for surprise, the beguiling wonder and infinite creativity of Yaelokre will respark your belief. The Filipino-Icelandic artist – real name Keath Ósk (they/it) – fuses three imaginative strands to their visionary expression: intimate, innocent folk infused with leftfield surrealism and instant pop accessibility; artwork which is intricately detailed and beautifully alluring; and storytelling which brings personal experience and poetry into rich, fable-like narratives. What’s more, all three of these elements are crafted by this one visionary artist.

The scale of the fantastical world they have created is vast, both in terms of narrative and lore. But its essence is relatively simple. The songs are set in the fictional world of Meadowlark and chart the adventures of four masked children who comprise a musical ensemble known at The Lark: Cole Seymour, Clémente Dearworth, Peregrine August, and Kingsley. They perform as representatives of The Harkers, mythical beings who express the fundamental principles of nature, wonder and chaos. What’s more, Yaelokre voices all of the different characters within their universe.

This immersive, escapist story is largely inspired by Yaelokre’s own life. The four Larks represent different stages of their childhood, and writing their songs felt cathartic for their creator. As Yaelokre explains, “Their stories are way for me to cut myself up into pieces, so I can tackle the smaller issues easily rather than going full-on into the big problems straight-up. This project revolves around lessons that I’ve learned from life, and each song has a lesson.”

Those recurring lessons vary in nature, but those wisdoms all feel like universal truths. “The main lesson is to listen, be kind and spread compassion. Be courageous. Do not let yourself be fenced in. Chaos is natural, and it’s not always a bad thing. You have to mind the past so you can find a better future. You need to be open-minded. And most importantly, you need to live in the moment: now is more important than anything.”

And while on first listen there’s a childlike innocence to the project, you only need to scratch the surface of its lyrics to reveal flashes of gothic horror which reflect the savagery of the natural world.

While that’s all fascinating, you may also feel that from what we’ve revealed that Yaelokre’s artistry is for a very niche audience. This couldn’t be more wrong. Since debuting the project in January 2024, Yaelkore has released seven tracks which have already amassed 180 million streams at Spotify. Their following is also fervently passionate, with huge engagement at TikTok from their 1.5 million followers, a vast 50-page fan-created Wiki, and a sub-Reddit packed with theories, fan art and cosplay.

That interest is sure to be intensified exponentially with the new single ‘Cole’s Response’. It’s both captivating and a curiosity as Yaelokre brings these characters to life with a vocal of pure expression and idiosyncratic cadence, as well as their engaging voice acting. All much like a 16th century minstrel recast into the streaming age.

As for the song’s theme, they explain: “It is Cole’s response to Clémente’s affection. Sometimes when you cannot comprehend something, it gets very overwhelming, in this case Cole as a child is experiencing a sort of ‘puppy love’ for the first time. They do not fully understand what it is just yet, the song is written as though Cole is suffocating, but at the end of it realises that it doesn’t really matter, and everything is okay.”

‘Cole’s Response’ will feature on the upcoming ‘Composing Colentine’ EP. It will add another new song, ‘Hearken’, alongside three previously released tracks which go deeper into Cole and Clémente’s back stories: ‘Kid & Leveret’, ‘My farewells to the fields’ and ‘Bird cage blue and yellow’. The latter incorporates Filipino and Icelandic lyrics into the song, which nods to their family heritage. It’s als