Earlier this year, a little-known singer-songwriter named Emily Yacina posted a really lovely EP to the internet. Though just one of several unfussy, home-recorded releases stockpiled on her Bandcamp page, Pull Through had a certain rainy-day magic to it, a hypnotic sleepiness that showed a lot of promise.
As previously reported, we first heard Yacina's voice via Alex G, another Philadelphia-bred songwriting whiz who, despite being pretty picky about collaborations, has chosen to work with Yacina on many occasions. Most recently she sang harmonies on "Mud," a heartbreaking track from his truly great Beach Music full-length.
Now, because there is still some good in this sick, sad world, Yacina will release another EP before year's end. Judging from its mesmerizing first single, debuting down below, the project is another step forward. "Loser" is maybe her most intricately arranged production ever, but it still maintains the hauntingly simple and impressionistic qualities that made Pull Through so arresting. Yacina's multi-tracked voice sounds heavenly over a rubbery guitar pattern and subdued synths that flicker like moonlight on a dark, squally ocean.
"I wrote 'Loser' over the summer," Yacina told The FADER in an email. "To me, it's about being unable to move on from something that once meant a lot to you. I wrote the other songs of Soft Stuff at different points this past year. It's inspired by different relationships and the spaces that are created within them." The EP is out December 11, and there will be a limited number of cassettes available via her Bandcamp.