Hailing from the wilds of Idaho and now based in the teeming weirdness of Portland, Ore., identical twins Katelyn and Laurie Shook comprise half of the Shook Twins, their truthfully billed acoustic Folk outfit. Fleshed out with the talents of Kyle Volkman and Niko Daoussis, the Shook Twins utilize the standard aspects of Bluegrass and Folk, including banjo, ukulele, mandolin, acoustic guitar, upright bass and angelic sibling harmonies, but they also bend and sculpt their sonic environment with decidedly atypical instrumention like a beatbox, glockenspiel, djembe, a looping mechanism, a tarted-up telephone microphone and their iconic giant golden egg, an evocative shaker that features in all of their shows.
“Quirky” seems to be a consistent adjective used to describe the oddly appealing sound that the Shook Twins concoct for their loyal and understandably expanding fan base. The Shooks’ 2008 debut, You Can Have the Rest, was a mere taste of the twists and turns the twins had in mind; they relocated to Portland in 2009 and began working on their magnum Folk opus, 2011’s Window, a wild sonic ride that reimagines their traditional musical foundations in a contemporary tableau suggesting a campfire jam between Kate Bush, The Roches and Jane Siberry, field recorded by Brian Eno and curated by David Byrne.
The Shook Twins recently wrapped up the sessions for their upcoming third album so this current tour should offer some hints of the new material, but rest assured that, no matter the set list, the Shook Twins will use their quirkiness as a simple spice in a seven-course feast of Folk brilliance.
T HE SHOOK TWINS play Monday, Oct. 7 with Shiny and the Spoon at MOTR Pub in Over-the-Rhine. Check out performance times and get venue details here .
