Nilüfer Yanya – Painless

Where Nilüfer Yanya's 2019 debut album Miss Universe often exudes warmth with its jazzy tones and lush textures, her follow-up, Painless, finds the London-based artist exploring more glacial territory (for the most part). On songs like trouble and try, guitars are plucked like icicles atop arrangements so glassy and spare you can almost see Yanya's breath cast along the frozen space between bars like mist over a midnight lake.

That's not to suggest the album doesn't have any clout though, as lead single stabilise proves in an instant with its addictive mix of pounding breakbeats, barbwire guitar and intoxicating chorus, surely hinting at long-term banger status. Then there's midnight sun, which ruptures into a squall of pulverising shoegazey fuzz – one of the rare moments on the record which feels like every space is filled to the brim.

While Painless is not so far removed from its predecessor that it could alienate existing fans, the closing brace of the mystic and anotherlife present some of the more interesting ideas here, exploring the complexities and capabilities of Yanya's voice, as well as her more ethereal pop chops. If this is hinting at where she's heading next, it’s very exciting indeed. 

Listen to: stabilise, midnight sun, the mystic