‘Let the silence in, let the quiet ring out’ sings IORA on her latest single ‘Nylon’. She stands by this too. Her whispered vocals accompany an understated instrumental that distils a quietude within ANher.
Not dissimilar to when Depeche Mode instructed us to ‘Enjoy the Silence’, IORA’s musical restraint and yearning for stillness beguiles.
The vocalist’s electronic leanings were present on her How Did We Get Here EP in 2022. It was instrumentally ornate and colourful, as is ‘Nylon’. A year on from that EP and both new music and a Glastonbury performance are shortly to follow.
Yet IORA never overdoes it. Fuzzed-up synthesisers glow alongside wider instrumentation with subtle charm. Despite such restraint, there is assuredness in IORA’s elegant vibrato-tinged vocal inflections.
Lyrically, she’s a contradiction, calling herself ‘both a tyrant and the survivor,’ as well as ‘a mountain and a climber.’ It adds to her chameleonic charm.
‘Nylon’ is difficult to pinpoint musically, perhaps due to the song’s original form being conceived on a nylon-stringed guitar. From here the song has been sculpted to become a paradoxically dense yet spacious creation (remember, IORA is accustomed to contradictions with this song).
This ambiguity, alongside IORA’s captivatingly emotive vocals, are the success of ‘Nylon’. It may appear cautious on first listen, but ‘Nylon’ is a resounding success for the Glastonbury-bound talent.
FOLLOW ON FACEBOOK // INSTAGRAM // TWITTER