Yasmin Nur performs at The Brickyard, Friday, April 18, to celebrate the release of her debut album “Slaughter.” She and her band, which features Aiden Rogge and Braden Pruitt, will be joined by second guitarist Max Abood for the evening. The Travel Guide and Silk will round out the bill.
The record is remarkable for a number of reasons, not least of which is that Nur, who has been releasing music for the better part of a decade, has never sounded more confident or as forthcoming as she does on the nine songs that comprise the LP.
The opening “Fragile” sets the mood, traversing a range of emotions over dark rhythms that teem with the danger of classic grunge. The titular cut serves as a study in dynamics, with steamroller heavy guitars and drums that give way to Nur’s arresting, frank vocals. But it’s “My Right,” released earlier this year as a single, that demonstrates how much Nur has grown as an artist. Though even her earliest songs felt authentic, evidence of an artist whose emotions were never far from the surface and sometimes existing on an axis between the harrowing and the hilarious, this tune, all one minute and 43 seconds of it, throbs with the intensity of a wound that requires immediate medical attention. It is the artist presenting the fullness of their art without apology.
Still, there are calming, dreamlike moments, such as on the radio-ready “Heaven Forever,” which sits nicely next to peak-era shoegaze from the likes of Lush, and “Summer Solstice,” which recalls peak era Meat Puppets and Dinosaur Jr.
Nur recently visited KMUW to talk about the album, her desire to be open about her emotional reality and how her relationship with her parents has shaped her creativity.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
This is your first album. How’s that feel?
I’ve felt like a hen sitting on eggs for the past [few years]. I started making the album when I was 22 or 23 and I’m 26 now and I’ve gone through so many changes in my life. It feels like I had a baby! [Laughs.] I see a lot of people I went to school with and they’re having kids. I’m, like, “Well, I, uh, made this album. That’s my baby.”
There is, in my estimation, a little bit of a change in direction.
Mm-hmm.
You sound … you sound a little angry sometimes.
[Laughs.] Yeah, that was the biggest thing I wanted on this new record, to have a little bit more rage. I still wish … if I could go back and do it all over again, I’d probably add just a few even more rage-ier songs in there. I love to scream, it’s so much fun to scream but it’s so much fun to sing and be really emotional. I didn’t see a point in me choosing one or the other because I love bands that [do both], especially bands that have female singers. They feel the feelings but they also [imitates a scream] loose it all. I love that.
Was it in some ways a release for you as the writer and performer to say, “This is how I’m feeling. I’m just going to put it out there”?
That was the biggest thing for this album. We ridicule people for being sensitive and extremely empathic. I feel that in society in general people are, like, [mimics a condescending voice] “You’re so sensitive.” I’ve been told that my whole life by everybody around me, my family, my friends. Everybody. This album was me being, like, “Yeah, I am sensitive, what about it, girl?” I wanted to bring those rage elements. I’m not a very angry person but I definitely have an attitude. [Laughs.] Like really bad sometimes. I wanted to have my moments of sadness but it was also … this album was really empowering for me because I really wanted to put it out and help people feel a sense of security with feeling sensitive.
People be hating on sensitive people for no reason. I’m, like, “Why? It’s so cool.” Being sensitive, you can make art and you can really connect with yourself and express yourself when you’re in touch with your sensitivity instead of covering it up and being, like, “Oh, I’m so tough.” ‘Cause I’m not tough. [Laughs.] At all. At all.
Was that one of the things that led you to music and writing?
Absolutely. You feel so many types of emotions when you’re in touch with your feelings. It’s overwhelming. That’s what I say in the song “I’m So Sensitive”: “I’m suffocating/I’m so sensitive/I’m suffocating.” I feel so suffocated by my emotions sometimes because they’re so strong and so intoxicating. I don’t even know what to do with them sometimes, so that definitely was what got me into writing and painting and making art. I needed somewhere to put all these feelings that I have all the time.
There’s a darker sound to the album, a little bit like some things that would have come out in the early ‘90s.
Yeah! [Laughs.] That’s definitely what me and the boys were going for. I also think that having them there with me also changed the sound of the album. Aiden and Braden are amazing musicians. I’ve known them since I was 18 or 19. They played in other bands and I played with other people and know we’ve come together. They’re so kind and so supportive and so helpful and positive. They always back me up. They love that darker, emo sounds. That really resonates with me and I think that really came through on the album.
My older stuff is … I’d say it’s rock music but it’s happier because I was 18 when [all of that came out]. I’m older now and I’ve gone through so many relationships and friendships and changes in my life. I’m not bitter now but I’m not [imitates naïve voice] “La la la” anymore. [Laughs.] I’m, like, “Damn, it’s hard out here to be an adult. I can’t take it!”
Some of your friends have started families and you’ve been playing music this whole time. There’s a certain point when you see those expected milestones go by and you say, “I’m on a different bus.”
It’s very to see those things and sometimes feel confident in your choices. As we grow older we’re expected to do things or, like you said, hit certain milestones, but when you’re a creative person you’re just doing whatever you want. That takes a lot of courage, to do whatever you want. It’s very easy to say, “I’ll just do what everyone else is doing.”
With the song “I’m So Scared,” I wrote that song about my dad and for my dad. He said, “What are you doing?” He’s very supportive but I think sometimes he wishes I had a little bit more structure. I wrote that song thinking, “You’re scared for me? I’m scared too! I don’t know what I’m doing.” I never want to live my life feeling like I didn’t pursue something that I wanted to do. That takes a lot of courage. I never want to live with regrets no matter what. As long as I have no regrets, I’m happy.
I think you told me once that your dad was into punk rock as a young man.
He’s from Bangladesh and then he moved to England for a little bit. There’s this picture of him in Trafalgar Square and he’s wearing these big, platform shoes. He’s got long hair and bellbottoms. He was big into rock music, so was my mom. I was raised on a lot of really good music. They put this creative bug in me. It’s their fault. [Laughs.]
I’m sure that on some level they get that need.
My mom’s super creative. She’s always encouraged me to paint and to draw. She used to let me take stuff out of the kitchen cabinets and mix it together, anything. Glitter, coffee. Eggs. She would let me do that. I have always been encouraged to be myself by my family and I’m really lucky for that.
