BMA single review by Vince Leigh
Indie music artist AYA YVES made a considerable impression with her debut EP, What We Look Like With The Light On, which generated more than 750,000 streams.
AYA also participated in the inaugural APRA AMCOS Queer Express Yourself showcase, performed alongside Montaigne and Hands Like Houses, and landed in the Top 40 of the Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition.
After a string of singles released that explore a distinctly dark alt-pop sound, AYA has returned with white flag, a track that peruses similarly dark terrain yet eschews the reactive to become more reflective.
The new release is a taster from her EP, serotonin & forget me nots, and utilises AYA’s effortlessly persuasive vocal skills to deliver a lush electronic-tinged backdrop for melodic inventions that veer from low-register intimacy in the verses to subtly high-flying in the chorus.
Along the way, AYA’s inner gaze expresses itself in a series of sweet, wistful notes that mirror the general focus of the song, that being a gentle cathartic awakening.
This theme is transposed with assiduity, and a finesse not limited to the performance.
The production values generously suggest nocturnal tones and textures without giving way to a blurry rendering. AYA’s emotional energy pierces through, or surges and blossoms above, the brooding dynamics, the ethereal oscillations, and the rhythmic variances of the beats, whose positions along the track’s timeline help initiate the lyric’s maturing resolve (if I may suggest that about white flag’s thematic schema).
The song not only incorporates a particular sensibility, aesthetically speaking—the allure of intimacy instantly transforming a pop tune into a more enthralling experience—but also highlights AYA’s talent for writing well-crafted melodies.
This is succinctly demonstrated with white flag’s chorus; its opening line, “I won’t fall down for you again”, integrating the lyric with notes that sound almost celebratory, if decidedly less formal and more conciliating.
Listen to this track on Spotify or Apple Music and catch the gig on 25th May at UC Hub – tix here
