There is something deliciously meta about Nilüfer Yanya’s shapeshifting third album — titled ‘My Method Actor’, it finds the guitarist and vocalist inhabiting elements of her 2019 debut ‘Miss Universe’ in order to find the best route forward.
simmered on 2022’s more streamlined ‘Painless’. But if ‘Miss Universe’ was a shot of youthful adrenaline, ‘My Method Actor’ lingers on the coffee-fuelled anxiety of the morning after.
Binding views the debilitating sensation of dissociation and depression through the lens of a car crash, the faint heartbeat of its sparse percussion underpinning glacial guitars that jangle and stab.
Elsewhere, album highlight Method Actor is one part Soho jazz bar and another part dingy rock club, swapping out its keys-drums manipulation for some Smashing Pumpkins-esque fuzz that adds serious heft to the track.
‘Painless’ punctured its poppier sounds with dark teaser trailers for unhealthy habits. ‘My Method Actor’, however, is happier to roll the full picture. It doesn’t pull its punches, journeying through the claustrophobia of existentialism on Side A to the freeing space that comes with hope on Side B.
On Like I Say (I Runaway) Yanya falters when confronted with a lack of control over time itself while the closer Wingspan finds comfort in enduring pain and coming out the other side: “Through this mess I've been devoted here comes destiny.”
At times, as with Ready For The Sun (touch), the music and lyrics find balance. Here Yanya sings, “Come touch my soul, come find what’s there, I’m at my worst, I don't think you care, gone is the best you wish you had,” before the track’s strings dissolve into acoustic guitar.
The Yanya we get on ‘My Method Actor’ is more than the one who made ‘Miss Universe’, yet she’s no less creatively thrilling. You’re forever kept on the edge of your seat, wondering where the road will go next.
Nilüfer Yanya Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Sat November 30 2024 - BRIGHTON Concorde 2
Mon December 02 2024 - BRISTOL Fleece
Tue December 03 2024 - LONDON HERE at Outernet
Wed December 04 2024 - NOTTINGHAM Rescue Rooms
Thu December 05 2024 - MANCHESTER Manchester Academy 2
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