The Psychedelic Sounds of Lil Yachty’s New Album

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Brooke Tramel

Photo by Brooke Tramel/RooNews.

Brandon Clark, Staff Writer

  Come immerse yourself in the psychedelic pop rock synth soundscape that is Lil Yachty’s newest creation; his latest album titled “Let’s Start Here”.

  The 14-track album comes as a refreshing change of pace and sound for the hip-hop artist who put together a project filled with Pink Floyd-esque guitar rifts, wide airy synths, spaced-out drums and bright, autotuned vocals mixed in layers with lots of delays and reverbs. 

  These sounds come familiar to the frequent listeners of Tame Impala, MGMT, Beach House, etc., but to hip-hop fans, it stands as a fun-filled trip out of left field by Yachty that poses himself in a new territory of sonics. 

  Yachty revealed in a tweet that the album took only six months to make, but he sat on it for a year and a half, debating on when to release it into the world. In another tweet, he says “Truth be told, all I ever wanted was to be respected as an artist”. 

  We’ve seen it repeatedly, artists putting together bodies of work that are considered experimental or risky compared to the music they generally put out. Most notably in the hip-hop realm, there was Kanye West’s “Yeezus”, Kid Cudi’s “Speeding Bullet to Heaven”, and Tyler, The Creator’s “Igor”. 

  As for Yachty, these luscious and glimmering sounds in his experiment seem to pair with his easy-going spirit and lyrics almost seamlessly, creating what is his magnum opus at this point in his career.

  Lil Yachty didn’t need to create and drop a psychedelic rock album to remain relevant, but he did, and it helped him create his first true body of work where we can see him explore his artistry in an evolving capacity. This once again launched him into the category of musician that no one saw coming, much like his entrance to the scene in 2016 with hits like “Minnesota” and “One Night.” 

  The new album is available to listen to on all streaming platforms and continues to sit high on the charts, furthermore portraying a testament to the public’s ear being pleased by this leap of artistry by the young artist. 

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