Tendertwin is set to release her debut EP Ship Argo on July 5 and is sharing the first single and video ‘Asking’.
Nurtured transatlantic, 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 — a familiar folk sound with an industrial glitch where landscapes are entangled in ambient sounds, wrong-footing melodies and unpredictable arrangements.
Building from its delicate beginnings into a sprawling soundscape of fuzzy tones and layers of harmonies, ‘Asking’ displays the remarkable depth of Tendertwin’s songwriting — bringing together elements of melancholic, ethereal alternative-folk with expressive, high-octane alt-rock tones.
Talking about the new single ‘Asking’, Tendertwin says: “This is one of the dark times when I would wake up every day, wondering what would happen if I didn’t— on that thin line where nothing in life feels right. When — you want to reach your arms up above, to whoever might be there, or to the side, or towards a body of water, and go: “Am I asking for too much?” You’re not. And if you had to perform this dangerous dance at any point, and pulled through in resilience— I’m glad you’re here now. And I’m glad I’m here to remind you of this.”
In thematic accordance with the mythical underpinnings of the EP and Tendertwin’s Aegean upbringing, the video for ‘Asking’ takes a defiant turn at the story of Achilles. Shot in the swimming pool of Tendertwin’s former high school by directors Emre Koktas and Cagla Caglar, this aquatic visualisation of a vicious battle with self winks at Janusian interpretations of vulnerability.