DATE AT ELECTRIC BRIXTON 16 MARCH
 BRAND NEW SINGLE ‘STABILISE’ OUT NOW
SECOND ALBUM PAINLESS – OUT 4 MARCH 2022 ON ATO RECORDS

Pre-order PAINLESS HERE

Mercurial London artist Nilüfer Yanya has today announced her headline 2022 UK, EU and US tour – her first headline shows since 2019 – including a homecoming date at Electric Brixton on 16 March. Yanya recently returned to the stage for Pitchfork Music Festival London, co-headlining a sold-out Hackney Church with Moses Boyd, with the publication dubbing her performance “captivating in its candour.” Support on the UK and EU dates (excluding Ireland) comes from hotly-tipped French-born London-based newcomer Léa Sen while soulful Chicago artist Tasha is lined up as support in the US. Tickets will go on presale 30 November, and  general sale 3 December HERE. PAINLESS is available to preorder HERE.

The tour announcement comes hot on the heels of Yanya announcing her hugely anticipated second album PAINLESS for release on 4 March via ATO Records earlier this month. The record’s searing lead single ‘stabilise’ was instantly lauded at press by the likes of CLASH, DIY, Dork, The FADER, The Line Of Best Fit, NME, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone UK, and more, with further additions to editorial playlists at The FACE, Loud And Quiet, The Observer and The Sunday Times Culture amongst others. BBC Radio 1’s Clara Amfo, Jack Saunders and Jess Iszatt have emerged as firm fans of ‘stabilise’ along with Apple Music 1’s Matt Wilkinson.

Over a fast-paced, nimble guitar line on new single ‘stabilise’ Yanya sings “There’s nothing out there / For you and me / I’m going nowhere”. It is a song about the mundanity of the city where dog fights, small flats, and endless high-rise buildings can induce claustrophobia. Nilüfer shares about the concept behind the single and video, “I was really thinking about your surroundings and how much they influence or change your perception of things. A lot of the city is just grey and concrete, there’s no escape.” She adds, “The video plays on the central theme in the song of no one coming to save you ever. It’s set in the depths of reality in everyday life where we are the only one’s truly capable of salvaging or losing ourselves. Nothing is out there -both a depressing and reassuring statement (depending on how you look at it). Sometimes you have to dress up as a spy or a rock star and just hope for the best.”

PAINLESS is the follow-up to Nilüfer Yanya’s renowned 2019 debut album Miss Universe, which fully established her as a singular artist and a distinctive voice that simply has to be heard. The critically acclaimed Miss Universe – a widescreen concept record that took a tongue in cheek swipe at the most self-involved corners of the health and wellness industry – was followed last year by the three song EP Feeling Lucky?, which further explored Yanya’s fascination with ‘90s alt-rock melodies and drew on themes of resentment, her fear of flying, and the concept of luck. Pitchfork summed up Feeling Lucky? and her now peerless songwriting aptitude best: “Nilüfer Yanya’s melodies have a pull so strong they almost necessitate their own law of physics.” Yanya also re-released her early EPs on vinyl for the first time this year on the record Inside Out. The release is a fundraiser for Artists in Transit, a collaborative not for profit group she founded with her sister Molly that delivers art workshops to displaced people and communities in times of hardship.
 

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As the daughter of two visual artists (her Irish-Barbadian mother is a textile designer and her Turkish-born father’s work is exhibited at the British Museum) creativity was always destined for Nilüfer Yanya’s future. Now she enters the next stage of her creative journey, Yanya is running head first into the depths of emotional vulnerability on her sophomore record PAINLESS. The album was recorded between a basement studio in Stoke Newington and Riverfish Music in Penzance with Miss Universe collaborator and producer Wilma Archer, DEEK Recordings founder Bullion, Big Thief producer Andrew Sarlo, and musician Jazzi Bobbi.

Where Miss Universe stretched musical boundaries to include a litany of styles from smooth jazz melodies to radio ready pop, PAINLESS takes a more direct sonic approach. By narrowing down her previously broad palette to a handful of robust ideas that revolve around melancholy harmonies and looped industrial beats to mimic the insular focus of the lyrics, Yanya has smoothed out the idiosyncrasies of previous releases without losing what is essential to her.

PAINLESS is a record that forces the listener to sit with the discomfort that accompanies so many of life’s biggest challenges whether it be relationship breakdowns, coping with loneliness, or the search for our inner self. “It’s a record about emotion,” Yanya explains. “I think it’s more open about that in a way that Miss Universe wasn’t because there’s so many cloaks and sleeves with the concept I built around it.” She adds, summing up the ethos of the new album, “I’m not as scared to admit my feelings”.

See Nilüfer Yanya live in 2022:
 
Mar 3 | St Lukes, Glasgow UK
Mar 12 | Whelans, Dublin IE
Mar 14 | Band On The Wall, Manchester UK
Mar 15 | Trinity, Bristol UK
Mar 16 | Electric Brixton, London UK
 
Mar 20 | Trabendo, Paris FR
Mar 22 | Bogen F, Zurich CH
Mar 23 | Ampere, Munich DE
Mar 24 | Grelle Forelle, Vienna AT
Mar 26 | Säälchen, Berlin DE
Mar 27 | Nochtspeicher, Hamburg DE
Mar 28 | Paradiso Noord, Amsterdam NL
Mar 30 | Botanique, Brussels BE
 
Apr 26 | Antones, Austin TX
Apr 28 | Basement East, Nashville TN
Apr 29 | Shaky Knees, Atlanta GA
Apr 30 | Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro NC
May 1 | Grey Eagle, Asheville NC
May 3 | Black Cat, Washington DC
May 4 | Underground Arts, Philadelphia PA
May 6 | The Sinclair, Cambridge MA
May 7 | Webster Hall, New York NY
May 9 | L’Astral, Montreal QUE
May 10 | The Axis, Toronto ONT
May 12 | El Club, Detroit MI
May 13 | Thalia Hall, Chicago IL
May 14 | Fine Line, Minneapolis MN
May 17 | The Fox Theatre, Boulder CO
May 18 | Commonwealth, Salt Lake City UT
May 20 | Fortune, Vancouver BC
May 21 | Crocodile, Seattle WA
May 22 | Wonder Ballroom, Portland OR
 
 
Nilüfer Yanya – PAINLESS – out 04/03/22 via ATO Records

1. the dealer
2. L:R
3. shameless
4. stabilise
5. chase me
6. midnight sun
7. trouble
8. try
9. company
10. belong with you
11. the mystic
12. anotherlife

Desh Kapur UK-Editor/Photographer

My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago