“I made these songs on Band Garage to cure my depression,” echoes Yo Stroud! as the opening line of her new effort, it’ll come to me… In this moment, preceded by a drum break seguing into a mystifying synth run, the listener knows they’re in for a peculiar, unique experience. The St. Louis-based artist has been performing for several years, as one of my earliest articles in 2019 covered one of her endeavors in a music video for “Wild Child”. Now, in 2023, Yo Stroud! looks to explore the electronic side of her talents in it’ll come to me…, a product of “the fruits of prolonged depression”.
After setting the stage in opener “inn troh drumb roal”, “easty beasty” incorporates an Eastern melody that melds into guitar and bass runs worth maintaining attention from start to finish. It really picks up with the vocalized bridge, smartly layered and simple enough to digest for any listener even if it’s too “out there” for some. “DERN the luck” puts the synth in the spotlight and could sound straight out of an intense SNES game once the break beat takes hold. The wide variety of instruments continue as strings, autotune, recorder, and more all come together in a mish-mash of sounds to create an avant-garde mystery for the ears to unravel, with a phone call thrown in to just add to the weirdness.
Continuing on into “smoke em all”, the limits of your speakers’ bass will be tested. A raspy voice saying “sMoKe Em AlL” and coughing their guts out is somehow the most odd thing yet on it’ll come to me…” and had me cracking up through sheer absurdity. I kept laughing through “ho ho ho yo yo yo”, an autotuned “holiday” track where you can hear Yo Stroud! laugh at how ridiculous the lyrics they’ve written are. Once it hits you that this album is a straight stream of thought, it becomes that much more enjoyable.
The most performative, traditional song yet, “wurds meen nuthingg”, is as accessible as Yo Stroud! can get, whilst still showcasing her skill around DIY production and thinking outside of the box with solos abound in this 5-minute track. What comes next in “c o n g r a t u l a s h o n e” is more of the most absurd sounds to enter my ears as what I can only describe as Goofy laughing mixed with scatting accompanies the autotuned harmonies that comprise what can be considered a “song”. Instruments kick back in with “idk who i will b in the future”, with drum-and-bass getting the solos and the spotlight across 5+ minutes.
“moment 2 moment” serves as calm within the chaos with some serene, smooth pacing for a change. With a 7+-minute runtime, Yo Stroud! continues with “dysflorida”; it starts out jazzy, adds some gruff distortion, sprinkles in some improv, and just sums up it’ll come to me… to this point in its unabashed experimental presentation. Nearing the end, the next three songs are titled “The Synth Sense”, “The Sick Synths”, and “The Six Cents”. These operate as a three-part continuation of an overarching melody and common themes across the 14 minutes these 3 songs inhibit. After that ride, “LA LA WAY OH” closes out the record being status-quo weird while somehow catchy.
it’ll come to me… is less of a musical album and more of an auditory art piece. It’s not exactly something to throw on while lifting at the gym or to sing along to in the shower, but rather sit down and immerse yourself in. While it’s presented in such a DIY frame, it’s immaculately layered and pushes the boundaries of GarageBand hard. it’ll come to me… is an unconventional, challenging listen that will reward those with an open mind. While sometimes there’s a little too much going on at once and melodies clash with each other, there’s plenty of payoffs and bright ideas at play. If it isn’t your style, you can at least try tracks “ho ho ho yo yo yo” and “c o n g r a t u l a s h o n e” and bust your gut laughing.
Rating: 8/10
