Yung Lean: Unknown Memory review – nagging hooks and queasy introspection

(Sky Team/Redeye)

Swedish teenager Yung Lean first caused a stir with a set of weird YouTube clips that conformed to no one’s idea of what a hip-hop video should be. Stripped of the visuals and stretched over 13 tracks, his debut album is not such a strange proposition. Downbeat synth squiggles and chilly production align him with the bleaker strains of current R&B, while the dank atmosphere and slurred vocals occasionally recall late 00s rap offshoot witch house. If Unknown Memory doesn’t quite merit the excited bafflement that initially greeted Lean, its nagging hooks and queasy introspection still make for an intriguing trip.

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by Ally Carnwath via Electronic music | The Guardian