Sam Jameson
Opinions on music can change over time. Sometimes, you can grow bored of an album you initially loved, or alternatively, an album can age just like fine wine. Sam Jameson shares his own experiences with Yung Lean’s third studio album, ‘Stranger’.
I remember sometime in the summer of 2020 during the first lockdown, when my sleep schedule reached breaking point and I was going to sleep at ten in the morning, I decided to drift off whilst listening to ‘Stranger’. In my sleep deprived and delirious state of mind, I vividly recall being able to see the music. I could see ‘Stranger’. Despite this experience, ‘Stranger’ never quite did it for me compared to other standout projects from Lean like ‘Unknown Memory’, ‘Warlord’, and ‘Starz’. Yet, in what was another somewhat fatigued and weary state of consciousness on a coach journey home after a long day, I decided to revisit ‘Stranger’ for the first time in what must have been several months.
What appeals to me so strongly about this album is the journey that it embarks upon from its rough-edged, yet oddly comforting beginning, to its beautifully tragic ending
‘Stranger’ undoubtedly has some of Yung Lean’s most impressive sonically sounding work, with songs like Red Bottom Sky and Agony gaining widespread public recognition. But what appeals to me so strongly about this album is the journey that it embarks upon from its rough-edged, yet oddly comforting beginning, to its beautifully tragic ending. Where the adventure really begins is on track three, titled, Skimask. Skimask feels like walking into a circus. I have no idea what to expect, but I know that I will like what I see.
Following track Silver Arrows is like floating on clouds as its relaxed peacefulness feels like musical medicine, particularly as the chorus becomes slithered in autotune towards the end of the song. Those closing 30 seconds really elevate the song into being one of the greatest highlights of Yung Lean’s discography. Push / Lost Weekend and Salute / Pacman sound as experimental and confusingly breath-taking as the sounds from Kanye West’s ‘Yeezus’, and, like Silver Arrows, create a peaceful aura that is hard to find in other Yung Lean albums.
Iceman has always been my favourite from this album – it is the perfect example of what a Yung Lean song is in this period of his career, truly combining the more exceptional moments from ‘Unknown Memory’ with the more refreshed approach that is discovered on ‘Stranger’, and then carried on throughout ‘Poison Ivy’ and ‘Starz’. Snakeskin / Bullets sounds and feels like pure isolation; a late-night (or early-morning, depending on your sleep schedule) realisation of irreversible character failure. Desperation in darkness.
‘Stranger’ is a sophisticated high, a well-crafted, controlled concoction of directed intoxication
The artist that is known as Yung Lean is supremely important to me. He has helped redefine my perception of music and the world of art. He has provided me with countless hours of inspiration and enabled me to view life itself as existing alongside the creative fantastical dimension that music exists within. But ‘Stranger’, ‘Stranger’ is something different. ‘Stranger’ is a sophisticated high, a well-crafted, controlled concoction of directed intoxication. Whilst the thick, atmospheric boldness of Leandoer’s earlier works ignited a wild excitability inside of me, Stranger’s maturity delivers similar emotional animation in a more calming manner.
As much as I would always persist that Yung Lean’s music becomes more enjoyable and understandable over time, I previously felt that ‘Stranger’ was an anomaly to this rule. However, after more and more engagement with this album, ‘Stranger’ now feels like a language that I can understand but not speak. And it is this very reason which contributes so heavily to my newfound appreciation of its sound. I enjoy being sat at a comfortable distance from its burning core, like an exploding supernova that is too far away to cause damage, but close enough for its profound elegance to be overtly visible. I enjoy listening to an album from an artist whose work I know so well and being gifted an entirely different sounding response.
‘Stranger’ is still far from my favourite Yung Lean album, but it is certainly no longer a stranger to me
I never did understand why ‘Stranger’ has so consistently been heralded as the unofficial fan-favourite of Lean’s, and perhaps I never will but, I am confident that it now lives as its own world within my psyche, like many of his other albums, and has the ability to provoke a connection that his other works cannot: something which may forever resist from being understood. What has to be the most significant takeaway from ‘Stranger’, is that I am certain that my feelings towards it will continue to evolve and shift, refusing to settle in its comfortable confusion. ‘Stranger’ is still far from my favourite Yung Lean album, but it is certainly no longer a stranger to me.
If you like this album I would personally recommend listening to ‘Ye’ by Kanye West, ‘Exeter’ by Bladee, and ‘Man Alive!’ by King Krule.
Sam Jameson
Featured image courtesy of Raffi Asdourian via Flickr. Image license found here. No changes made to this image.
In-article images courtesy of @yunglean2001 via instagram.com. No changes made to these images.
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