Stray is a 33-year-old rapper and songwriter from New Haven, Connecticut who formed the group Rogue Hollow in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. His solo debut full-length play “Witherman” will be released next fall, and his full-length debut album “Cloudy Alibi” will be released in the summer of 2023. His most recent EP “Enjoy the View” came out in July of this year. He hired the team’s newest in-house producer Charlie Beans to handle all the beats of Stray’s third EP, last month’s album Joyce. produced much of James Dfort’s first album, Last Month.
“Cicada,” which follows the “Change of Plans” intro, opens with an aggressive boom bap instrumental that pleads to dig into a world that’s been underground for too long, while “Foul Ground” features James Joyce the Squatch talking about what separates them from everyone else. “Out Alive” melancholy tells the story of sleeping under a cypress tree forever, before “Frost Bite” reassures that it’s okay if you can’t keep up, and “Perfect Timing,” the last song before “Epilogue” ends, ends with an explanation of how life never is.
His upcoming sophomore effort, Flinch, will be released later this fall, also produced entirely by Charlie Beans, and I have the impression that it will surpass Cloudy Alibi as Stray’s greatest LP to date, as Blink of an Eye eclipses Witherman and Enjoy the View as far as EPs go. Between the Sky Swamp Orange frontman’s lyrics and Charlie’s dark production, it could also be seen as a continuation of Rogue Hollow’s shockwaves in the underground.
Score: 8/10
