Four things you need to know about Aya Yves’ new EP, ‘What We Look Like With The Light On’
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Canberra songstress Aya Yves today released her hotly anticipated EP, What We Look Like With the Light On.
Showcasing Aya Yves‘ undeniable talent for songwriting, the EP contains another string of singles that promise to be modern pop sensations.
Here’s what you need to know.
1. Even if Aya Yves sounds new to you, you’ve probably listened to her music before
That’s because Aya Yves is the creation of Cooma-born Vendulka who you’ll remember from The Voice Australia and gigs and festivals across Canberra.
In 2020, she unveiled her new name—AYA YVES—as well as a distinctly new style of music.
“This chapter felt inevitable to me,” said Aya Yves when we chatted to her in mid-2020. “My taste in music I listened to had progressed over the years from acoustic folk to more alternative, electronic sounds (BANKS, Bon Iver, James Blake, London Grammar…just to name a few). I’d wanted to start experimenting with more electronic sounds for a while, and (in)Sanity was the first song I wrote that felt like it could exist in that realm.”
“Becoming Aya Yves felt right for a lot of reasons. I believe quite passionately in signs from the universe and I’d had a dream about the new name a couple of years ago. I was standing in the wings of a stage and I peeked out to a crowd that was chanting for me. I ran out, started singing—and they lost it. I woke up and knew that the name change was going to happen as soon as the music felt right!”
2. You can listen to What We Look Like With the Light On now on Spotify—and it’s already generating buzz
The entire EP is now available to stream here on Spotify and rave reviews are flying in from across the country, crowning her “one to keep an eye on amongst the strong, ever-crowded fresh faces of pop music” (Pilerats), “a newcomer to watch” (Thomas Bleach) and attesting that “it is clear this new era of Aya Yves is going to be an incredibly rewarding one” (Women in Pop).
One of the tracks, (in)Sanity has already snapped up 30,000 streams in just two months, which is bloody impressive. You can listen to the entire EP, including (in)Sanity here.
3. The EP has some seriously Canberran roots
While Aya Yves began her musical journey in Cooma with stints in Sydney and Canada, the singer-songwriter is Canberra-based and there was a plethora of local talent involved in the EP’s creation, from guitarist Viktor Rufus to the team behind the breathtaking EP cover—photographer Jenny Wu and floralistas Moxom & Whitney.
4. It’s all about the feels
Many tracks on the EP will have you deep in your feels in no time, with lyrics penned from the heart.
“I wrote (in)Sanity in the first few weeks of meeting someone and they had pulled the classic ‘I’m not ready for a relationship’ line,” explains Aya Yves.
“I knew this person was an emotionally unavailable mess and I went into it anyway—and that’s a theme I wanted to highlight throughout the song. When the rose-tinted glasses come on, all sane, rational decisions go out the window.”
Her song Smart Girls also deals with relationship fallout.
“Breakups tend to make us question who we are, who we were in that relationship and what we can learn for next time. I walked into my session with [songwriters] Bri and Jordi coming off the tail end of a breakup, where my sense of self had taken a beating,” said Aya.
“What is now the chorus, was originally said as a joke! But when we tried it, it felt sassy in all the right ways. ‘Smart Girls’ is about that reflection on a relationship, and knowing that at the end of the day—you did all you could, you’re a badass, but the relationship wasn’t right for you.”
Wise words. We can’t wait to see what Aya Yves does next.
