Posted: by The Alt Editing Staff
After the release of 2019’s masterful Remember the Silver, Emily Yacina made a change. She packed up and moved to Long Beach, CA, where she lived a few different lives as she worked on her new album. The process for that album, which is called Veilfall and came out on September 26th, ended up taking around four years, but the results are undeniable. It’s her most polished album yet, and these thirteen songs have far more layers to them than the more austere work she built her name on, bursting with strings and mellotron and moog bass.
Similarly, it’s the most upbeat collection yet; cuts like “WIP” and “Free/Forgotten” are warped takes on pop tunes, Yacina’s voice gliding effortlessly over beats and spurts of electric guitar. Even on more delicate songs there’s enough to keep things interesting: “Clarity” is awash in strings, propelled by flickery percussion, and “Signal” swells and recedes in accordance with Yacina’s lullaby-like melody. We spoke with Yacina over Zoom about the five-year writing process for Veilfall, opening herself up to collaboration, and making peace with vulnerability.
Something you’ve talked about in the rollout for Veilfall is that you wrote a lot of this album after moving from the east coast to California. Did that move have any impact on your writing?
I don’t think the geographical change did, but the people I’ve encountered definitely did, and the relationships did.
You’ve also talked a lot about the death cafes you’ve hosted. Do you think of that process as similar at all to writing and performing music?
I feel like there’s a vulnerability to both, for sure. The death cafes are more about listening when I’m there, not sharing a ton. At the beginning I’ll share and ask about everyone else’s experience. I’m hoping that being vulnerable at the beginning will encourage others to be vulnerable too. In that sense, yes, but a lot of it is about listening during those events. I’ve been inspired in those during the process, though. I’m sure it seeped into the music.
That’s really interesting. I’d never heard of the death cafe before.
Oh, I didn’t invent it! There’s a whole history. It’s all on their website, and it’s very interesting.
You’ve been working on Veilfall for about five years, right?
Yeah.
Given how much music you put out in such a short span of time before this, I assume that isn’t typical of your process.
Well, two things happened. I think the songs on this record took a long time because of production, adding lots of things. I also think when I moved I was at a point where I didn’t know if I wanted to keep putting music out in the same way. I was going through my own battles with what I wanted to do. I was babysitting when I moved here, delivering weed, and then things changed.
The two-song single you put out last year, Trick of the Light w/ Nothing Lasts, were those songs part of these sessions? I remember thinking at the time that they felt pretty distinct from a lot of your previous material, and I think Veilfall feels somewhat of a piece as those.
They were written at the same time as some of the songs on the record, yes. I’d worked with Rostam on those and just by collaborating with him, his expertise with production, that’s why they sound very distinct. They’re a set.
Much of this album feels a lot more optimistic than other music of yours, lyrically and sonically. Does that feel like a fair reading?
I hadn’t thought about that, but I can see what you’re saying, that optimism. I’m thinking about “WIP” in particular, and about some of the bouncier songs. We had fun making them, and that energy might’ve been harnessed. Before, a lot of the songs I made by myself, so maybe there’s a correlation there.
You spoke with Paste and said that the feeling of vulnerability was something you tried to channel throughout Veilfall. I know you had written a piece a few years ago about mental health and the way that people talk about love in relation to mental health. In light of those, Veilfall comes across at points like perhaps vulnerability isn’t as scary as it used to be.
I hadn’t thought of that essay in a long time. I was maybe 19. It was my freshman year of college. I was thinking back then too about the role of love in my life, and it’s funny thinking about how many experiences I’ve had since then. I think I still think a lot about relationships, how they change and shape you. I think vulnerability is a major theme. “The Clearing” specifically is about the fear that comes with going to that place, but how that place is the only place you can be that vulnerable. I think that’s the arc of the album, and the rest explores that too.
I like “Blanket” as a last track, and I really like the lyrics to that one. It feels like a pretty straightforward examination of exactly what you’ve been talking about, and that last lyric that closes out Veilfall is “pull the blanket over me.” Is that the reason that song is the thing you leave people with, or is there something else about it that you felt made for a good closer?
That song is super fun. It was the only song I wrote the day it was recorded, with Charlie Brand, who produced that one in his studio along with “Battle,” the first track. They have a similar energy because we made them both, him and I, so I like that they bookend the record. That one started off when we were making a cover of “Cool” by Gwen Stefani, and we were playing with the pitch, and then a melody came out all of a sudden. It came to be really easily, all that day, and we added maybe a few things. It came out quickly. I like it as the final song because the whole album is a little dramatic, about opening up and how scary that can be, and I thought that was a cheeky ending. After all that, just pull that blanket over me! It doesn’t suggest that you should give up, nothing like that, but I thought it was funny. After all that, I just want to go back to bed!
At the moment, you’ve only released two songs, so there are still eleven tracks for fans to hear. Are there any that you’re particularly eager to get out there?
I’m really excited for people to hear “Shine,” the fifth track. I had Gia Margaret play the classical piano, and I think it sounds so beautiful, the way it’s arranged. I’m also excited for people to hear the sting arrangements, because they haven’t been on the singles. Oliver Hill, who is a violinist, recorded strings on four of the songs. I think they’re so beautiful! I’m excited for people to hear “WIP,” which is fun. I want everyone to hear it all!
You said earlier that most of what you do is just your own work. How different was it to bring others into the fold and have them tinker with your work?
I feel like I conquered a lot of fears about that working on this record. At a certain point, I think it was liberating to let go of some of the control. I got into this mindset that anything was possible for these songs if I just invited people in. I’d say it’s the most collaborative thing I’ve put out there, and I’m proud of that. Everyone involved was so talented! The songs sound amazing, and I don’t think I’d get them there just me. I don’t mean that to be self-deprecating! I just had to put aside my own ego a little, and I think it was cool to get over that.
I heard a rumor, and I don’t know the truth of it, that you were fourteen or fifteen when your first couple albums came out.
Yeah!
If you went back and spoke to Emily Yacina at fourteen or fifteen, sat yourself down and played Veilfall, how do you think younger you would react, knowing this is where you’d be in a few years?
Oh my god, I’d freak out! I’d be so excited, and I’d be so surprised. I did not think it’d be my life to be a professional musician, and to this day I still have to remind myself that that’s what my life is. I’m so grateful for how things turned out. My younger self, she’d be like, “what the heck?” She would not expect it, but I think she’d be so stoked.
In that time, what do you think is the most valuable or surprising thing you’ve learned?
I think having ownership over my music is something I’ve come to really appreciate. I think maybe more artists and musicians should think about that. I feel like I learned over the years all the components that it takes to put out a record. I feel really proud to do it independently. Maybe someday the right thing will come along, but for now this is such a sick setup. I can call all the shots and follow my own intuition, invite the people on that I want to work with, all that. It was an accident at first, being independent, but I’m really glad I’ve been able to maintain that. It’s been very fruitful.
I really like the artwork for all your material, and I think the color palettes you tend to use always work really well with the way your music sounds. The art for Veilfall is especially gorgeous. How did that come together?
The artist is Ben Styer, and I’ve been following his work for a long time. He’s an incredible painter and illustrator and makes really creepy folkore-inspired illustrations. He’s done a few different albums in the past, and he was following me, because he likes my music! We just started talking, so I asked if he wanted to do it. I sent him the songs so that he’d know what the album would be, but he came up with the image and all of it. He was into taking photos at the time, which is where the sunset comes from. Thanks for saying that about the colors. I think, coincidentally, they all look nice and cohesive together. That’s not intentional! It just came out that way.
We’ve talked a lot about your headspace going into Veilfall, but what do you want listeners to leave the album with?
I just hope people can enjoy it and maybe relate to some of the fears expressed and the more positive things. I hope it resonates in whatever way.
Veilfall is out now.
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Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
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