My Method Actor＜Gold Cassette＞

After releasing and then touring in support of her second album, PAINLESS, Nilufer Yanya found herself not only between albums but between record labels and homes. When she eventually felt ready to start from scratch on a new batch of songs a few months into 2023, she got together with Wilma Archer (Sudan Archives, Celeste), who had contributed to both of her prior LPs, and decided to make it a two-person affair in which they wouldnt so much as ask for feedback from anyone else. (Guests do appear on strings, pedal steel, and drums on a few tracks.) Written and recorded in sessions in London, Eastbourne, and Wales, the resulting My Method Actor -- Yanyas Ninja Tune debut -- is an even more intimate, reflective album than its predecessor. The title was derived from the idea that we act differently around others versus when theres no audience, as well as when we enter different headspaces. Ruminative throughout, My Method Actor dives right into existential questions with the opening line "What are you looking for?" on "Keep On Dancing." A confrontational, mostly acoustic track, it adds throbbing bass, electric guitar, and extra layers of vocals for its more emphatic final third. Yanya keeps searching for answers on the syncopated "Method Actor," with its mix of grungy guitar tones, airy pedal steel, and Shakespearean imagery, then she asks "Was it hard to stay?" on the skittering "Mutations," and she wonders "Do you feel sad?....Do you get mad?" on the ethereal, strings-enhanced "Faith’s Late," the closest thing to a chamber R&B ballad in the set. The stripped-down, wobbly final track, "Wingspan," bookends the album with a statement: "Here comes destiny." In tandem with its animated acoustic rhythms and often enigmatic lyrics, My Method Actor is a soft-spoken, probing outing for Yanya, one whose dreamy web of acoustic instruments and electronic accents persistently allures while scrutinizing. ~ Marcy Donelson