Before having released a single song, 20-year-old UCHE YARA already opened for Bilderbuch, Parcels, Marc Rebillet and none other than the Rolling Stones. This summer, the Austrian multiinstrumentalist played over 45 festivals all across Europe, including Pitchfork London, Wilderness and MELT! Festival. After her debut single “www she hot”, she’s now releasing not one, but two sophomore singles: SOPHIE and PANAMA.

SOPHIE takes on the perspective of a short-fused character bemoaning the meanness of his former lover without acknowledging his own wrongdoing. Over lively and, yes, fun 90s-style grunge guitars, the story of SOPHIE is told as they sadly often go, from a happy life, to subtle manipulation, then violent outbursts, then gaslighting and self-pity. As for the sound, SOPHIE is a classic bedroom production. Or shall we say kitchen production? “The first idea for the song came to me in a friend’s kitchen, riffing around with an unamplified electric guitar. A line appeared: Sophie, you’re so mean! and I knew immediately: This is the hook,” says UCHE YARA. Released with SOPHIE as a double single, PANAMA acts as SOPHIE’s eerily joyful reverberation, the happy resolution to SOPHIE’s tragedy, spreading the calming feeling of “all is well in the end”. So, is it? Hear for yourself!