BILGE NUR YILMAZ OF TENDERTWIN
Having released the single "Tidal Insomniac", with a video by Logan de Raspide Ross, the Istanbul-born, London-based artist is set to deliver her upcoming debut EP 'Ship Argo', next month.
"Tidal Insomniac" is a song about the conflicted dynamics of desire — capturing that strange feeling when you desperately want to love someone, and the irrational distance you might go to make them love you back. With poignant lyrics such as "I know why I felt too inclined to let it all bleed" and "forming a solid ghost," Tendertwin mirrors the full journey from selfless innocence to masochistic vengeance, questioning what keeps us away from true commitment.
It's a game of restless ebbs and flows that keeps you up at night, reflecting both modern tales of ghosting and ancient romances of the likes of Medea. Here is the woman: allegedly crazy, waiting. Let the undulating rhythm carry you through the track's tight space of emotion, while the whirling layers of saxophone soothe the tension with unpredictable spirals.
Mixing a familiar folk sound with an industrial glitch where landscapes are entangled in ambient sounds, wrong-footing melodies and unpredictable arrangements, Tendertwin is a forager for half-lived stories. Born in Istanbul, Bilge Nur Yilmaz's distinctive voice subtly soaks up Turkey’s rich musical heritage from the lapping tides of the Black Sea and Mediterranean, and filters it through drifting time spent in Philadelphia, Oxford, and London.
Speaking about the EP title, Tendertwin said "'Ship Argo' gets its name from the mythological Greek ship which is said to be the first ship to sail the seas. The wood itself imbued the ship with magical powers, such as the ability to speak and produce its own prophecies. This collection of songs is my ship— these songs were vessels that carried me and kept me safe over the past few years when I was always moving."
The upcoming EP 'Ship Argo' is a collection of songs that reveal Tendertwin’s introspective musings on themes such as water dementia, unrequited love, and the transient nature of existence and belonging. Each track is imbued with a sense of wanderlust and a longing for connection, mirroring Yilmaz's own nomadic journey through life.
Inspired by the likes of Tim Buckley, Joan Armatrading, Meredith Monk, Mitski, and Debussy — Tendertwin creates celestial folk mixed with ambient noise and alt-rock tones. The album takes inspiration from a variety of disciplines involving the works of William Blake, Michel Foucault, Jean Cocteau, Euripides (Médea), Faith Wilding, and Ingmar Bergman. During the writing process of the EP, Tendertwin moved to three countries, became an aunt, swam in December, read T.S. Eliot, Rainer Maria Rilke, Ovid and cried — a lot.
Produced and mixed by Yuri Shibuichi, 'Ship Argo' features a stellar lineup of musicians, including Joe Reynolds on cello, Michael Crean on violin, Oscar Browne on bass and electric guitar, Emily Hubbard on cornet, and Faye Thompson on saxophone.
Tendertwin will be performing live:
October 17 - Le Mazette | Paris, France
October 18 - Party Teuf | Laval, France
October 20 - Joker’s | Angers, France
