Nilüfer Yanya

🪦 Walks In The Cemetery, 💤 Rest Is Resistance, 📖 I Who Have Never Known Men, and more.

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Cool people like cool things, which is why we asked Nilüfer Yanya to share a taste of her taste on Perfectly Imperfect.

Nilüfer Yanya is a London-based singer and songwriter. Since beginning her career posting demos on Soundcloud, she’s opened for artists like Adele and Mitski and released a few knock-out albums. Following her 2022 release, the critically acclaimed Painless, her latest album My Method Actor came out September 13th. Her music genre surfs from indie rock, to RnB, to trip-hop; she’s crafted a cool and mercurial sound (I’ve been especially digging this track.) Currently, she’s touring the US and Europe, and you can find your tickets here. Lucky for us, Nilüfer’s here to tell us what she’s been into.

Without further ado

Nilüfer Yanya (instagram)

🪦 walks in the cemetery

I’ve been going for morning walks when possible in this overgrown cemetery close to me. It’s very peaceful and I can hear birds chirping.. It feels like a very necessary city detox. If I’m feeling stressed or anxious being amongst all the gravestones helps put things in perspective!

💤 rest is resistance

I came across the Nap Ministry via a podcast. I really believe in their ethos of “ rest as a form of resistance because it disrupts and pushes back against capitalism and white supremacy.” It’s recontextualising rest for me slowly. Another quote that sums it up perfectly - “ how will you be useless to capitalism today?” - Brontë Velez . really makes me think about how I want to live my life.

📖 I Who Have Never Known Men - Jacqueline Harpmen

The concept and the storyline makes it a really great book in my opinion. It’s post apocalyptic but anti survival. The main protagonist has no memory of before the disaster so is completely unattached to the idea of the world so has to create her own in an almost barren landscape. Poses some really interesting questions on existence.

📍 Acupuncture

My sister is training to be an acupuncturist so I’ve been learning  about it. I don’t think I took it seriously before but I’m changing my mind  (it’s over 2000 years old!) . It also has a really interesting recent  history in the US  with rehabilitation and addicts. Theres a documentary called. “Dope Is Death” which explains it really well.  If you’re interested but its too £$ try looking for students that are running open or practice clinics in your area. 

🕯️ my fave incense

If you like incense this is the place! Old Havana is my fave