Listen to Nilüfer Yanya cover PJ Harvey’s ‘Rid Of Me’

Nilüfer Yanya has shared a cover of PJ Harvey‘s ‘Rid Of Me’, the artist’s first musical release since the arrival of her second album in March.

Speaking about her cover of the 1993 track, Yanya said: “‘Rid Of Me’ haunted me for many years after I first heard it, but in a comforting kind of way, like I knew it was always there for me. It comes across defiant, alien and twisted, but it is a perfect song.

“I actually think it’s very romantic despite what some of the lyrics get at.”

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Yanya will be playing a number of live shows in support of her recent album ‘Painless’, performing at Desert Daze festival, supporting Roxy Music across the UK, and playing several European headline shows.

Back in March, Yanya was the musical guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where she performed ‘Midnight Sun’, dressed in a pair of pink fairy wings and backed by a three-piece band.

Speaking about the track when it was first released as a single, she said: “I really like the imagery of ‘midnight sun’ as a lyric as it insinuates a light guiding you through darkness. The wings carry their own symbolism – freedom, lightness, flight, fantasy…”

In a three-star review of ‘Painless’ earlier this year, NME wrote: “Though these songs are gloomier-sounding, and flecked with fuzzy hints of grunge, there’s still an inherent sense of fun – though sometimes you’re left wishing Yanya would push it much further.

“Even if ‘Painless’ occasionally settles into a consistent, thudding groove at times, when Yanya goes full pelt, she’s at her very best.”