Nilüfer Yanya: A bit of this, a bit of that

This weekend, we’re down in lovely Henham park for Latitude 2017. Featuring loads of amazing bands, and a smaller number of equally brilliant sheep, we’ll be bringing you photos, news, reports, interviews and more across the weekend.

If ice cool buzz is your thing, Nilüfer Yanya is a name you'll be looking out far. We caught up with her to find out how she's handling festival season, and what she's planning on doing next.

How has festival season been going for you?

Good! I did Dot To Dot, which was fun, and The Great Escape. I’ve got Deer Shed next weekend. I think this is the busiest; I haven’t got too many. There’s another one in Wales called Kallida, and another one in France [Cabourg Mon Amour] that’s really fun, and then some more in September.

Have you been to festivals much as a music fan?

I didn’t really get a chance to when I was younger, so it’s really nice to go see them now. You can forget you’re performing; you should have fun as well.

How it been going since your second EP, ‘Plant Feed’ came out?

Good yeah, I’m just trying to put out some more songs.

EP 3?

EP 3, yeah. It’ll probably be a small one, like two different songs.

Is that building up to an album?

I’d like to do an album, next year maybe. I’d like it to be all new stuff.

Have you started working on it yet?

I’m writing anyway, so I could have done, but I don’t know. I’ve got songs that I’ve written that aren’t going to come out now, so they could be for the album.

You’re playing it by ear?

I don’t think about it too much, or it’s like ‘Aaaaargh’. I try not to think of it like that, I’ll decide later.

[caption id="attachment_20401" align="alignright" width="1498"]

Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett / Dork[/caption]

[sc name="pull" text="I’ve got songs that I’ve written that aren’t going to come out now, so they could be for the album."]

Do you think your music will evolve when you get to your album? Does that play on your mind?

I think it’s all evolving now anyway, I think what’s going to change for me the most is maybe the production of the music, or the way it sounds. I’d like that to be a bit more cohesive. At the moment I’m just trying to stick things out.

Trying to give yourself an established voice?

Yeah, I think there is a sound, but to find the key sound. Give people a feel for me. A bit of this, a bit of that. I feel like it’s a bit like that at the moment.

Do you take inspiration from other bands at festivals?

Yeah, it’s funny, it’s a different experience when you’re going as a performer to festivals and to see shows, because you just think about it like that. It’s like, ‘Am I like them?’ ‘Am I not like them?’ ‘Do I want to be like them?’

How do you find pulling an audience at a festival?

I like to get more and more comfortable on stage. I think the whole point is that when you want to do something like that, is that you’re not thinking about it. That’s when it comes through the best. Not thinking, ‘Oh how should I do this?’ ‘How should I play it?’ If you’re not thinking about it, you just naturally engage with the crowd. You feed off each other, like the vibe. You can read it better. Otherwise, you have all these thoughts in your head about how you should be doing it.