It isn’t always easy to make out what Emily Yacina is saying on her new EP Soft Stuff, but her hazy vocals emote a sense of pain that is palpable. In each song the Philly-raised, Brooklyn-based artist offers just enough details to give the listener a sympathetic pang in their heart while leaving out just enough for their own empathy to fill in the gaps—an experience akin to discovering a torn love letter on the ground, dampened by an afternoon rain shower, and attempting to decipher what happened.
The six-song collection is Yacina’s second release this year, following January’s promising Pull Through. Since then, the precocious Yacina, who has been writing music since she was 14 and has collaborated with Alex G, has dove deeper down the rabbit hole. Her songs are darker and dreamier, dripping with reverb, melancholy synth strings and longing.
The EP’s most poignant track is its closer, “A Curse.” Over strummed acoustic guitar tinged with electric piano atop, Yacina recalls, in the present tense, memories of someone who has already begun forgetting all the little moments that make up a relationship, and the ache that that causes. Sometimes, though, truly feeling the pain is necessary in order to move on.
Stream Soft Stuff below:
Soft Stuff will be released December 11 on limited edition cassette.
