Philadelphia native Emily Yacina has been quietly self-releasing resplendent bedroom-pop since 2010. While relocating to Brooklyn earlier this year, the Alex G collaborator dazzled with Pull Through, a heartwarming 4-track EP that showcased her knack for uncomplicated, honest tunes.
Now, Emily Yacina promptly returns with “Loser”, the first leak from her upcoming EP, Soft Stuff. The track shimmers with vintage synths and distant guitar tones. Emily Yacina entrancingly chants the familiar narrative of post-break up stasis over a structure of plucked rhythms and rich, cool harmonies.
Back in January, songwriter Emily Yacina released Pull Through, four brief acoustic tracks embellished with whispers of electronic warbles. Like her frequent collaborator Alex G, Yacina appreciates lyrical brevity, verses that are ambiguous while still offering just enough details to create corporeal narratives.
“Loser”, off a new EP, draws Yacina’s ethereal textures to the forefront. Its opening synth notes so closely mirror the blissful pitch of her layered vocals that it is difficult to determine which is more organic. “Loser” is about Yacina’s yearning to recreate a sense of familiarity: “Can you do that again?/ Can you say what you said?/ When you were holding my hand/ Before you let go of it.” Her self-affirmed inability to look forward and subsequent unease appear in quick shifts to a lower vocal register, while the guitars and production blur in a flurry. The lullaby melody at the end of “Loser” may suggest otherwise, but Yacina finds little comfort here, murmuring “I know you’re right/ But I’m losing.”
Soft Stuff is out December 11th, available via Emily Yacina’s Bandcamp.
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