UK - 2024
Indie Rock, Indietronica, Singer-Songwriter
In PAINLESS, there was a heavy contrast between how the lyrics conveyed Nilüfer Yanya’s numbness in a world always on the move and how harsh and noisy her guitars were. My Method Actor is the other way around. Her words are more aggressive than ever, yet her music remains hazy and soft. Yanya goes through another character study filled with turmoil and insecurities. « Just like a child, I play for your applause / Until you smile I’m fucking miserable » she sings on the opening song Keep On Dancing while abandonment issues appear on Like I Say (I runaway) : « And I can’t stop you leaving / It’s the biggest fear of mine ». The atmosphere is tensed, she’s body and mind into her troubles but she tries to play it cool. The riffs are beautiful, the textures are thick and airy, it’s Yanya’s most beautiful album and it sounds like an unpolished diamond.
« You shoud pull that trigger, aim it at my liver / Losin’ a pulse and all my problems / I love to dance in my new costume ». This new costume she mentions on Method Actor is sewed with violent intrusive thoughts : « Cut a hole inside my heart / Cut me out, you won’t regret » she threatens on Binding. « So sharpen up your blade and cut me wide » on Made Out of Memory or « beautiful lines that could make you feel something » on Just a Western. My Method Actor builds its identity on a troubled imagery. It feels like Nilüfer Yanya wants to tear her body apart only to, maybe, build it up again. But nothing’s too sure. The urge to escape and the urge to drown are moving with equal strengths. So how does she exists between those two extremes ?
Despite all that violence, there’s a comforting feeling in her music. As if you were holding between your ears something you’d like to cherish again and again. This is mostly because Yanya doesn’t use violence to make a statement, she only describes her mind in order to understand how to better move forward.
« I think a lot about what I’m destined for, I’m dreaming of the end ». Never lingering on the past for too long, Nilüfer Yanya moves forward and her mind wanders. If she loves to « drown in » her new costume, who is she below ? She looks at the darkness within her and talks to it, asking questions, trying to figure out what it is.
« Can’t touch my soul / Can’t find what’s there / I’m at my worst / Don’t think I care ». If Yanya cannot find who she is within, she tries differently. She explores how other people shaped her in Made Out of Memory and how home can feel on Faith’s Late : « Feels like it could be, the place you come from there, the colours in my hair / Ain’t like it should be, the place you come from there, the colours in your hair / The feeling like I should belong ain’t where I could be ».
All of a sudden, she’s lost. The strings on this album sound beautifully and carry a colour of deep sadness. Yanya runs away from the people she loves because she’s afraid they might leave her first. She runs away from her troubles by dressing up in a costume. She runs away from the place she knows because they look scary. But My Method Actor doesn’t focus on the destination. It focuses on the movement.
Movement is everywhere in My Method Actor. And on songs that mostly last between four and five minutes, she takes her time to dissect it. « Kept going wrong, think I might day high / Swept and gone singing why, what are you waiting for? / I keep on dancing for ». The opening song says it all already, movement can bring as much oblivion as it can heal. The only thing to do is try to find the right speed.
On Method Actor, pain is about to catch her as she « can’t get much faster / […] Come place your dagger ». But on the very next song Binding, she’s already « driving too fast » as the « green light gets weaker and weaker ». It’s always the same trouble, the lines get blurry or they’re too precise. Between denial and facing every troubles lies a middle ground tough to reach.
There’s this same discrepancy in the music. In an impressive blend of genres, her melodies are long but never settle down. On Like I Say, a powerful guitar bursts in, reminding us of her sound on PAINLESS, but it doesn’t show up again. On Just A Western, the acoustic guitar is soon followed by electronic textures moving in the background and ready to take control over the main melody. It’s a constant fight between ideas that never breaks the album’s profound consistency. And within all these movements, Nilüfer Yanya, from time to time, manages to get her head out of the water and see how clear the skies are above.
« I won’t call it a favour / Won’t do it for free anymore ». This is probably the most unmistakable line where Nilüfer Yanya builds the foundation of her newfound trust in herself. On Just A Western, the next-to-last song, she finally sets boundaries. This change of pace is set by My Method Actor ’s greatest song, Ready For Sun (Touch), a magnificent ballad where Yanya tells the story of a woman finally accepting to show herself to the world, no matter what she went through : « Ready for the sun / Stop doing it for love / It’s all she’s got / Heavy on my mind / Share it in the light / Beautiful scars / That’s all she’s got ».
Her deep voice moves like a whisper on Call It Love where the singer-songwriter keeps healing as she changes her behavior. « Give it up / Don’t try to be different / She’s caught in a rip / Caught in a wave / Give it up » and so she guides herself out of the mayhem she was drowning in and encounters a new kind of love, healthier, softer, the love of yourself.
And as Wingspan closes the album, a song as short as Keep On Dancing which opened it, she realizes how much she grew, « Now you’re dead to me / Through your test I’ve been promoted ». Finally, that future she kept thinking about becomes tangible in the last line : « Through this mess I’ve been devoted / Here comes destiny ». And Nilüfer Yanya’s destiny has never felt as exciting as it is today. On an album where she tries to draw the right path to wherever she wants to go and be better, she also shows how much she evolved as an artist. Doesn’t matter where she goes now, we’ll follow.
« You shoud pull that trigger, aim it at my liver / Losin’ a pulse and all my problems / I love to dance in my new costume ». This new costume she mentions on Method Actor is sewed with violent intrusive thoughts : « Cut a hole inside my heart / Cut me out, you won’t regret » she threatens on Binding. « So sharpen up your blade and cut me wide » on Made Out of Memory or « beautiful lines that could make you feel something » on Just a Western. My Method Actor builds its identity on a troubled imagery. It feels like Nilüfer Yanya wants to tear her body apart only to, maybe, build it up again. But nothing’s too sure. The urge to escape and the urge to drown are moving with equal strengths. So how does she exists between those two extremes ?
Despite all that violence, there’s a comforting feeling in her music. As if you were holding between your ears something you’d like to cherish again and again. This is mostly because Yanya doesn’t use violence to make a statement, she only describes her mind in order to understand how to better move forward.
« I think a lot about what I’m destined for, I’m dreaming of the end ». Never lingering on the past for too long, Nilüfer Yanya moves forward and her mind wanders. If she loves to « drown in » her new costume, who is she below ? She looks at the darkness within her and talks to it, asking questions, trying to figure out what it is.
« Can’t touch my soul / Can’t find what’s there / I’m at my worst / Don’t think I care ». If Yanya cannot find who she is within, she tries differently. She explores how other people shaped her in Made Out of Memory and how home can feel on Faith’s Late : « Feels like it could be, the place you come from there, the colours in my hair / Ain’t like it should be, the place you come from there, the colours in your hair / The feeling like I should belong ain’t where I could be ».
All of a sudden, she’s lost. The strings on this album sound beautifully and carry a colour of deep sadness. Yanya runs away from the people she loves because she’s afraid they might leave her first. She runs away from her troubles by dressing up in a costume. She runs away from the place she knows because they look scary. But My Method Actor doesn’t focus on the destination. It focuses on the movement.
Movement is everywhere in My Method Actor. And on songs that mostly last between four and five minutes, she takes her time to dissect it. « Kept going wrong, think I might day high / Swept and gone singing why, what are you waiting for? / I keep on dancing for ». The opening song says it all already, movement can bring as much oblivion as it can heal. The only thing to do is try to find the right speed.
On Method Actor, pain is about to catch her as she « can’t get much faster / […] Come place your dagger ». But on the very next song Binding, she’s already « driving too fast » as the « green light gets weaker and weaker ». It’s always the same trouble, the lines get blurry or they’re too precise. Between denial and facing every troubles lies a middle ground tough to reach.
There’s this same discrepancy in the music. In an impressive blend of genres, her melodies are long but never settle down. On Like I Say, a powerful guitar bursts in, reminding us of her sound on PAINLESS, but it doesn’t show up again. On Just A Western, the acoustic guitar is soon followed by electronic textures moving in the background and ready to take control over the main melody. It’s a constant fight between ideas that never breaks the album’s profound consistency. And within all these movements, Nilüfer Yanya, from time to time, manages to get her head out of the water and see how clear the skies are above.
« I won’t call it a favour / Won’t do it for free anymore ». This is probably the most unmistakable line where Nilüfer Yanya builds the foundation of her newfound trust in herself. On Just A Western, the next-to-last song, she finally sets boundaries. This change of pace is set by My Method Actor ’s greatest song, Ready For Sun (Touch), a magnificent ballad where Yanya tells the story of a woman finally accepting to show herself to the world, no matter what she went through : « Ready for the sun / Stop doing it for love / It’s all she’s got / Heavy on my mind / Share it in the light / Beautiful scars / That’s all she’s got ».
Her deep voice moves like a whisper on Call It Love where the singer-songwriter keeps healing as she changes her behavior. « Give it up / Don’t try to be different / She’s caught in a rip / Caught in a wave / Give it up » and so she guides herself out of the mayhem she was drowning in and encounters a new kind of love, healthier, softer, the love of yourself.
And as Wingspan closes the album, a song as short as Keep On Dancing which opened it, she realizes how much she grew, « Now you’re dead to me / Through your test I’ve been promoted ». Finally, that future she kept thinking about becomes tangible in the last line : « Through this mess I’ve been devoted / Here comes destiny ». And Nilüfer Yanya’s destiny has never felt as exciting as it is today. On an album where she tries to draw the right path to wherever she wants to go and be better, she also shows how much she evolved as an artist. Doesn’t matter where she goes now, we’ll follow.