Nilüfer Yanya - My Method Actor

“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. On ‘Like I Say (I runaway)’, she dips her toe into more grungier pools, dark guitars and scattering beats building into something cathartic, while the title track embraces similar soundscapes, creating leeringly distorted moments right beside an off-kilter, jazz undercurrent. ‘Binding’ is lyrically quite heavy but sonically cooling and calm as it unfurls across five minutes. ‘Ready For Sun (touch)’ is arguably the album’s highlight, coming into being with distorted beats and giving way to an atmosphere that is haunting and ghostly, yet still comforting.

Across ‘My Method Actor’, Nilüfer seems to search within these different sonic worlds and within herself for answers – whether she is questioning how others perceive her, how rapidly time moves or a myriad of other things. In the end, she seems to find and in turn offer some solace in acknowledging that there’s always going to be questions to be answered, but that’s the beauty of it.