London-based 21-year-old Nilüfer Yanya isn’t a new artist on my radar, quite the opposite in fact. It’s been clear to me for a while now just how fantastic she is. A point very much emphasised during a recent trip to Snowdonia when I tuned into her Maida Vale session with Huw Stephens on Radio 1, beside a campfire, beneath the mountains – stiff drink in hand. Quite the combination, let me tell you.
As mentioned above, Yanya is far from new to me – she’s topped One’s To Watch lists I’ve penned for both Live At Leeds and Dot 2 Dot Festival this year, having seriously stamped a glowing mark with her Small Crimes EP last year. Since then, she’s stepped up further with ‘The Florist‘ and announced a new Plant Feed EP, a record that features a track that left me mesmerised during her recent Maida Vale session – ‘Golden Cage‘.
Her vocal range is simply staggering, whilst her ability to create hugely captivating stories from lyrics and majestic melodies has always stuck with me. ‘Golden Cage‘ is the latest gem in a long, long line, although, again like ‘The Florist‘, it’s another significant step forward. It’s a glorious, spellbindingly captivating, jazz-inspired number, intended to be open to interpretation, just like many of her tracks. I guess that’s a big part of the beauty, her wondrous, captivating short story in a sense can soon be yours, in a whole new way.
That for me is music at its beautiful best.
We Close Tonight 