Nilüfer Yanya – Golden Cage

When she released her ‘Small Crimes’ EP last year, it was obvious that London singer-songwriter Nilüfer Yanya was a rare talent, someone who could craft captivating stories from seemingly the most miniscule of events (even the title track alone proved that). With ‘The Florist,’ she stepped up once again, with upcoming EP ‘Plant Feed’ set to herald the full blossoming of an already fertile career. As if anyone needed more convincing that Nilüfer’s songwriting is simply spellbinding, she’s gifted us with yet another glittering gem in the form of ‘Golden Cage.’ With its upbeat, jazzy nature, the instrumentation of the track reflects the feeling of being blinkered to a bad or difficult situation, looking at things with rose-tinted glasses and turning a blind eye. But that swelling positivity tumbles away, leaving Nilüfer to try and break the spell while accompanied by harsher, starker guitar strums and slightly more melancholic brass melodies. “Are you in a daze?” she asks, the metaphor of the golden cage perfectly summing up the idea of that prison you never want to leave. What makes ‘Golden Cage’ even more engaging though is the fact that Yanya leaves the concept relatively open to interpretation, making it easy as pie for the listener to relate to the predicament. Once again, Nilüfer has proved herself to be a human, captivating songwriter, an unbridled talent that simply can’t be locked up.