Nilüfer Yanya formally announced her new album “My Method Actor”, released September 13th on Ninja Tune. The news arrived alongside the release of her new single, the near-title track “Method Actor,” and follows her recent single “Like I Say (I runaway),” which the New York Times described as, “reveling in contrasting textures” and The FADER called, “a jolting return.” Putting herself in an unnamed character’s shoes, “Method Actor” portrays a mini-life story in under four minutes. The accompanying visualiser was shot in an old hotel in Benidorm, Spain and is a one take video capturing Nilüfer sitting down to share the song’s story.
Speaking about “Method Actor” Nilüfer describes how the concept for the song came together, “I was researching method acting – and from what I read, it’s based on finding this one memory in your life, a life-altering, life-changing memory. The reason why some people find method acting traumatic and maybe not safe mentally, is because you’re always going back to that moment. It can be good or bad but you’re always feeding off the energy, something that’s defined you – and that’s what helps you become the character. It’s a bit like being a musician. When you’re performing, you’re still trying to invoke the energy and emotion of when you first wrote it,
The softer sound of Nilüfer Yanya’s third album, “My Method Actor“, belies a crop of new anxieties for the effortlessly innovative British singer and guitarist. She wrestles with the strangeness of growing older without ticking off the boxes that define how a person should be as they approach 30—married, entertaining motherhood, and otherwise settling down. “Shut up and raise a glass if you’re not sure!” she exclaims on “Keep on Dancing,” before launching into “Like I Say (I Runaway),” whose music video features Yanya literally absconding from the wedding altar at the very last second.
But these worries go down easy, set to finger-picked acoustic guitar that melts into the reliable snap of a drum machine. She might “feel shame the modern way” on “Faith’s Late” or find herself “dreaming of the end” on “Made Out of Memory” but on “My Method Actor”, Yanya wraps her vocals in layers of gossamer guitar, sounding fully in command even as she mines the depths of her own neuroses.
released September 13th, 2024
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