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Sep 11, 2024 Issue #73 - Maya Hawke and Nilüfer Yanya By Alfie Verity

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 method behind the record’s production pays off: it’s a much more insular album, narrower in its sound compared to PAINLESS, but more detailed and keenly crafted as a result.

My Method Actor is the type of record that benefits from multiple listens. With every replay, the music unfolds and spills, revealing here and there a haunting orchestral flourish, or a captivating vocal harmony. “Ready for Sun (touch)” shines with a mix of cool strings and a skittering, elastic beat, while the stunning “Binding” is so delicately composed with feather-light drumming and minimalist guitars that it feels like it might crumble under the weight of Yanya’s hearty, aching vocal performance.

The songs on My Method Actor are often about transitions: of leaving a place, leaving something behind. Yet, Yanya’s delicate and haunting songwriting allows for a more complex journey, which means this isn’t simply a record that charts a ride from A to B. The storytelling here is rich and honest, complicated.

In “Binding” she’s “driving too fast, vacant and glass-eyed, no coming back,” on “Method Actor” she sings of leaving her past self, “wearing my new costume.” Oftentimes, the lyrics feel uncertain of Yanya’s end point. On “Call It Love,” it’s hard to tell if Yanya is singing “I catch your flame / some call it love / I call it shame / heating me up,” or rather “eating me up.” In this song, which illustrates a turbulent romance, Yanya lets its conclusion dangle precariously. As with her composition and melody, Yanya’s lyricism invites speculation, a deep stare into what lies beneath the surface.

Altogether, My Method Actor is a pleasure to participate in. It’s at times both rapturous and somber. It is considered and genuinely moving. It spotlights the best aspects of Nilüfer Yanya’s creative techniques and allows them to build and blossom. Quite plainly, it contains a prowess which stakes a claim for Yanya as one of the most powerful voices in British rock music today. (www.niluferyanya.com)

Author rating: 9/10