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Dec 18, 2017Stranger has its cloud-rap niche and should please listeners eager to enter this world, but casual rap fans should arm themselves with enough patience and caffeine before taking the plunge.
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MojoNov 22, 2017While his alienated, laissez-faire flow disguises sly pop sensibilities on the smoked-out, funereal-paced Red Bottom Sky and Silver Arrows, it's bare-bones lament Agony that sums up his charm. [Jan 2018, p.94]
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Q MagazineNov 22, 2017Perhaps not something you'd put on to get the party started, Yung Lean has though nailed the comedown. [Jan 2018, p.114]
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Nov 21, 2017Stranger is at its best when it steps away from the safety of cloud rap melancholy in favour of Lean embracing his outsider identity.
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Nov 13, 2017Lean, at some point, gets lost in the wall of sound. And still it feels like the most essential music of his career: no longer an outsider looking in, but an artist fully embodying himself.
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Nov 13, 2017Stranger is especially striking for its beautiful production, drifting with dark synth glossiness that can feel a little meandering and aimless but just about avoids self-indulgence.
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Nov 10, 2017It doesn’t feel any more disciplined or carefully-crafted than the experimental ‘Frost God’ did, but Yung Lean does continue to push the boundaries--which is precisely what brought him to public attention in the first place.
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Nov 10, 2017His flow is less ostentatiously stilted than on earlier efforts, as if, now that this territory is being explored successfully by others, he no longer needs to exaggerate his outsider status. He floats into the vapor, drugged out and miserable, like the album itself.
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Nov 10, 2017Stranger is too parochial at this stage in his career, altogether enjoyable yet only seldom worthy of evangelizing. As his fanbase begins to mature, Håstad owes it to himself to grow up with them.
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Nov 9, 2017Stranger, is a fully formed welcome to the staying power of Lean, and this third chapter is unlike anything he’s done before, while simultaneously being everything he’s done before.
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Nov 9, 2017Yung Lean still lacks quality control. The middle bulk of Stranger can feel like being suspended in ice, experiencing a never-ending comedown.
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Nov 9, 2017It’s a strange thing: in a genre where the vocals tend to be the focus, here’s an album where you’d be better off ignoring the star performance and concentrating on the scenery.
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Nov 9, 2017The beats are the only thing going anywhere on Stranger, while the vocals seem as drunk and rambling as ever, devoid of memorable similes or even coherent subject matter.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 38 out of 45
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Mixed: 3 out of 45
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Negative: 4 out of 45
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Oct 5, 2022
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Aug 31, 2021
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Dec 3, 2017