The brainchild of songwriter Kemp Stroble (Hot Fudge, Ya’al H’ush), Yallweh‘s self-titled debut is the culmination of more than two years of work. Stroble began recording the album in May 2015, and wound up playing everything on it except drums—those came courtesy of Will Dyar—and a smattering of cello and trumpet parts, contributed by Athens expats Heather McIntosh and Charlie Estes.
The 11-track record bears the mark of its exacting creation process, but its precision is a strength, not a drawback; devoted to melody and movement, Yallweh’s music never becomes weighted down by its many details.
Stroble’s LP is a psych-pop treasure, and today we’re pleased to premiere its first single, the anthemic “I’ll Gladly Not Sing,” which you can stream below:
Stroble says of the song:
‘I’ll Gladly Not Sing’ was written, along with most of the other songs on the Yallweh album, during a particularly difficult time in my life. I spent many months re-evaluating my place in the world, and fortunately found that I was able to translate various frustrations into music and words. This song has a few layers of meaning, conceptually, and the absence of a vocal-driven chorus is more significant than mere happenstance. The process of demoing and then professionally recording this song out in New Mexico continued to provide me with reminders of what I’d been going through. This was tough, and I often found that I did not want to sing about these things, or about anything at all. The juxtaposition of the emotions in words and music with the piecemeal and task-oriented structure of recording this song (and the rest of the record), however, allowed me to develop a more objective perspective on both the music and my life.
Yallweh will be available to purchase on Bandcamp starting Friday, July 14. For Yallweh’s live show, which you can catch Saturday, Stroble has assembled an all-star cast of locals to act as his backing band, including members of Marshmallow Coast, Hot Fudge and Harvey Milk.
Yallweh plays Little Kings Shuffle Club on Saturday, July 15.
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