Following the release of last year's melodic single and video, ‘Blue Plastic’, Yung Lean today shares his brand new track, ‘Boylife in EU’. Produced solely by Whitearmor and recorded early last year at Namouche studios in Lisbon, ‘Boylife in EU’ in a sense mirrors the past six years of Lean's journey; a lingering, opaque track which in abstract ways recounts for his past encounters with the triumphs and tragedies of rockstar hyperbole, as well as an account of a young man's quest for redemption and a fixed focal point in this world. Its forceful, eroded production coupled with fleeting vocals references the process of healing from within and re-connects the dots towards the more illuminated sections of reality.
The “Boylife in EU” visual is an invite from Yung Lean for a highly visceral and playful experience; a surrealistic journey down the rabbit hole to a dream-state space, into his mind´s abstract interpretation of the title track.
Coinciding with the release of ‘Boylife in EU,’ Yung Lean also announces European and North American tour dates for March and April. He'll play seven shows in Europe, including a show in London, before heading overseas to perform in New York, Toronto, and Los Angeles on 12th May. Exclusive pre-sale will be available at yunglean.com.
Listen to "Boylife in EU" above, see full tour routing below, and stay tuned for more from Yung Lean coming soon.
TOUR DATES
27/03/20 — Underplay Tour — Fållan, Stockholm, SE
30/03/20 — Underplay Tour — Village Underground, London, UK
31/03/20 — Underplay Tour — Sacré, Paris, FR
01/04/20 — Underplay Tour — Upstairs Paradiso, Amsterdam, NL
02/04/20 — Underplay Tour — Cassiopeia, Berlin, DE
04/03/20 — Underplay Tour — Hydrozagadka, Warsaw, PL
12/05/20 — Underplay Tour — Baby’s All Right, New York, US
14/05/20 — Underplay Tour — The Drake - Toronto, CAN
15/05/20 — Underplay Tour — The Moroccan Lounge - LA, US
About Yung Lean
The different narratives surrounding Yung Lean often gravitates towards a similar synopsis; the one about a free spirited minor and his weirdo friends who armed with little more than contextless cultural influences, a limitless reference framework, idiosyncratic visual content and an unsupervised highschool computer lab - seemingly overnight - became one of the most seminal artists of the past decade; genuinely polarizing, towing a frantic fanbase and countless copycats along as he crashed and burned through now-infamous world tours, erupting streaming figures and omnipresent influence over anything and everything from bizarre art projects to mainstream music alike.
Whilst not being untrue, the above is of course a simplified rendering of an accelerated and exploratory coming-of-age story, open for interpretation through the impressive stream of multimedial output stemming from that moment when his first upload "Ginseng Strip 2002" exploded onto the internet in March 2013.
From there tracing forward through his studio albums (Unknown Memory 2014, Warlord 2016, Stranger 2017) mixtapes (Unknown Death 2002 2013, Frost God 2016, Poison Ivy 2018) and countless one-off singles, the broader story beyond Miami meltdowns, luxury sportswear and Arizona ice tea promotions materializes; one about inexhaustible creativity, an abstract yet highly complex account about metamorphosis of the self, an old soul from juvenile age turned weathered and peculiar artist in a reality of his own making, eccentric and always scrutinized like a born entertainer hybrid between Arthur Russell and Lil Wayne.
Little over 6 years since the inception of Yung Lean, his diversity and resourcefulness has given rise to a variety of side projects and collaborations; alt-pop solo project JL96, post rock experiment Död Mark (together with his day-one producer Gud), writing credits on Frank Ocean’s Blonde, a Calvin Klein modeling assignment, a signature shoe with Converse and his own clothing brand Sadboys Gear - all vessels and tools of art, fashion and music used in ever more inventive ways in order to offer up a brief glimpse into the mind of Yung Lean - himself seemingly unaffected by the attention as he plunges deeper towards the next phase of his artistic expression.
