Early in her career, singer and producer Nilüfer Yanya was offered the chance to join a manufactured all-female rock trio to be produced by One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson. She politely demurred and has followed a defiantly independent route ever since (the band never got off the ground anyway). But going your own way in the music business is harder than ever today. On her muscular and melodic third album, My Method Actor, the London artist stands at a crossroads, wondering about her place in both the industry and the world at large.
Yanya isn’t the first musician to interrogate their self-doubt via the medium of angsty alternative pop – but she does a better job than most of bringing the listener along with her. A major asset is her rich and expressive voice, which can articulate pain and insecurity as readily as it trembles with wonder and joy. But beyond her prowess as a vocalist, My Method Actor is packed with sharp songwriting and painstakingly assembled hooks that often arrive unannounced, like a jump scare in a superior horror film.
My Method Actor, recorded with the producer Wilma Archer, begins with a note of menace via the tightly cranked electro-soul of “Keep On Dancing”. It is followed by the single “Like I Say (Runaway)”, a piece of bruised and melancholic art-rock rooted in lyrics about escaping the expectations of others and refusing to compromise no matter the cost (“I won’t cross this line/I could really lose you in time to time”).
Yanya turns 30 next year and has spoken about the challenges that await as she progresses to the next stage of her life and career. No longer a bright young newcomer, on the spectral ballad “Method Actor” she wonders if the music industry will have any time for her as she grows older (“People like you and me get jaded / People like us, our dreams get faded”).
There is excitement and euphoria, too. The album reaches a satisfying crescendo with the slowed-down indie jangle of “Just a Western”, where her ghostly coo orbits a blistering acoustic guitar. The future has never been more uncertain for cult musicians such as Yanya. But with My Method Actor, she delivers a powerful portrait of an artist staring their insecurities in the eye and refusing to blink.
Stream: “Like I Say (Runaway)”, “Just a Western”
