Release Date: Sep 13, 2024
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Rock, Neo-Psychedelia, Alternative Singer/Songwriter
Record label: Ninja Tune
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Nilüfer Yanya might well be the new best British rockstar. With each new album her music gets louder, grittier, heavier. Her third album, My Method Actor, builds on the moody thunder of 2022's incredible PAINLESS--the songwriting is more thoughtful, the arrangements thicker and more lush, the singing sharper and more affecting. The album was produced with barely any external contributors giving input; it was recorded in a "bubble," as she puts it, with her collaborative partner Wilma Archer.
The task is doubly difficult when dealing with an artist like Nilüfer Yanya, whose craft is as much about elaboration as it is about refinement. 2022's phenomenal PAINLESS balanced the scales of musical comfort and adventurousness adeptly, mixing brash production with alluring vocal melodies. On Yanya's third full-length My Method Actor, those same scales are just as present, but the balance feels much more precarious.
An album of constant surprises in which to immerse, it confirms its creator as an exciting talent There’s a parallel universe where Nilüfer Yanya is a member of a girl group managed by Louis Tomlinson of One Direction. Back in 2014, after hearing Yanya’s demo recordings on Soundcloud, a music executive contacted her and offered her what seemed like the opportunity of a lifetime. In a smart move, she turned it down.
Nilüfer Yanya's debut, Miss Universe, felt like a refreshing new twist on guitar music back in 2019 and her credentials were confirmed on 2022's Painless. Now, My Method Actor continues an excellent run from an artist who can seemingly do no wrong. Songs like Like I Say (I runaway) or Method Actor retain her fuzzy guitars, but Yanya's voice has been distilled to its purest essence, rarely needing to rise above a whisper to get her message across.
"What you looking for?" asks Nilüfer Yanya on the opening track of her third album, 'My Method Actor'. It's the first question of many in an album that is brimming with curiosity and exploration - an album on which, from the off, Nilüfer strives to make an excavation of the core of who she is. More expansive and undiluted than its predecessors, she seems to find room to explore both sonically and lyrically.
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