Cromwell Ate a Twix Here/Yol - Fragile/Glassed Ascension

 

Released: March 21

This two-piece split album from Cromwell Ate a Twix Here and Yol is equally odd on both sides, although for much different reasons each. The first half is dedicated to the former and takes the form of a short story that is simultaneously romantic and strange. Very little of it is dedicated to musical motifs, instead centering on the story of a burgeoning romance with faint backdrop of environmental noise and soft pads. But the way in which the music is integrated here is both sparse and effective. It allows the narrator to fully express the unusual romance with the odd twists and turns of it, only bringing itself to the forefront in order accentuate the more uplifting and startling points of the story. It is a soft and tender story, one that I don’t want to spoil for anyone because you just have to hear it to understand. 

On the flip side of this split is Yol’s contribution, which could not be more startlingly different. Yol’s body of work consists of this bizarre blending of electrical noises and “spoken” word. I put spoken in quotations  because it is often words spoken under this perceived distress. It’s often sounds like someone rapidly losing their mind as they repeat seemingly nonsensical strings of words. In this case, it feels much like words that are tangentially connected through the loosest of associations. It’s honestly kind of disturbing with overtones of mental illness or full blown delirium. It’s not easy listening but it certainly has its value in bringing you into this lurid alternate reality in which nothing makes sense. But I would definitely prepare yourself for it and allow yourself to accept the nonsensical nature of what is being said.