Painless (album)

Painless
Studio album by Nilüfer Yanya
Released	4 March 2022 (2022-03-04)
Studio	Press Play Riverfish
Genre	Indie rock[1] indie pop[2]
Length	46:27
Label	ATO
Producer	Will Archer Jazzi Bobbi Bullion Andrew Sarlo
Nilüfer Yanya chronology
Inside Out (2021) Painless (2022) My Method Actor (2024)
Singles from Painless
"Stabilise" Released: 9 November 2021 "Midnight Sun" Released: 19 January 2022 "Anotherlife" Released: 16 February 2022 "The Dealer" Released: 28 February 2022

Painless is the second album by English singer Nilüfer Yanya. It was released on 4 March 2022 on ATO Records.[3]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	83/100[4]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
The A.V. Club	A−[6]
Exclaim!	8/10[7]
The Guardian	[2]
The Independent	[8]
The Line of Best Fit	8/10[9]
NME	[10]
Pitchfork	8.4/10[11]
The Telegraph	[12]
Uncut	8/10[13]

Painless was met with widespread acclaim reviews from critics.[4] Laura Snapes of Pitchfork opined that "Painless excels at a kind of subtle disclosure, relying less on power than it does texture and immaculately sparing detail."[11] Chris Taylor of Line of Best Fit wrote, "crunchy, ethereal, and odd in its harsh beauty, Painless is a record of contradictions that Yanya spectacularly weaves together." In a five-star review The Telegraph proclaimed that the album "should rubber stamp Nilüfer Yanya as a generational star".

Publication	List	Rank	Ref.
A.V. Club	The 25 Best Albums of 2022	N/A	[14]
BrooklynVegan	Top 50 Albums of 2022	3	[15]
BrooklynVegan	Indie Basement: Top 40 Albums of 2022	5	[16]
Crack	Best Albums of 2022	40	[17]
Esquire	The 25 Best Albums of 2022	N/A	[18]
Exclaim!	Exclaim!'s 50 Best Albums of 2022	21	[19]
The Forty-Five	Albums of the year 2022	26	[20]
The Independent	The 10 Best Indie Albums of 2022	2	[21]
Gigwise	Gigewise's 51 Best Albums of 2022	15	[22]
Gorilla Vs. Bear	Gorilla Vs Bear's Albums of 2022	12	[23]
NPR	The 50 Best Albums of 2022	30	[24]
ourculture	The 50 Best Albums of 2022	18	[25]
Paste	The 50 Best Albums of 2022	36	[26]
Pitchfork	The 50 Best Albums of 2022	16	[27]
The Ringer	The 33 Best Albums of 2022	32	[28]
Slant Magazine	The 50 Best Albums of 2022	11	[29]
Treble	The 50 Best Albums of 2022	15	[30]
Under the Radar	The 100 Best Albums of 2022	6	[31]
Uproxx	The Best Indie Albums of 2022	N/A	[32]

Track listing

Painless track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"The Dealer"	Nilüfer Yanya Will Archer Jazzi Bobbi	Archer	3:38
2.	"L/R"	Yanya Bullion	Bullion	3:39
3.	"Shameless"	Yanya Archer	Archer	4:34
4.	"Stabilise"	Yanya Archer	Archer	3:32
5.	"Chase Me"	Yanya Archer	Archer	3:30
6.	"Midnight Sun"	Yanya Archer	Archer	4:42
7.	"Trouble"	Yanya Archer	Archer	5:04
8.	"Try"	Yanya Archer	Archer	4:10
9.	"Company"	Yanya Archer	Archer	3:46
10.	"Belong with You"	Yanya Bobbi	Bobbi	2:56
11.	"The Mystic"	Yanya Andrew Sarlo	Sarlo	3:33
12.	"Anotherlife"	Yanya Bullion	Bullion	3:23
Total length:				46:27

Deluxe edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	"Shameless (Reflects)"	Yanya Archer	Archer	4:37
14.	"Midnight Sun (Reflects)" (Acoustic Version)	Yanya Archer	Archer	4:55
15.	"Chase Me (Reflects)"	Yanya Archer	Archer	3:28
16.	"Midnight Sun" (Sampha Remix)	Yanya Archer	Sampha	4:17
17.	"Midnight Sun" (King Krule Remix)	Yanya Archer	King Krule	5:03
18.	"Rid of Me"	Polly Jean Harvey	Bobbi	3:37
Total length:				72:24

Personnel

Musicians

• Nilüfer Yanya – lead vocals (all tracks), electric guitar (tracks 2, 9), guitars (10–12)
• Will Archer – electric guitar (tracks 1, 3–7, 9), acoustic guitar (1, 3, 6, 8), bass guitar (1, 4, 5, 8), piano (3), backing vocals (5, 8)
• Ellis Dupuy – drums (tracks 1, 4, 6, 10, 11)
• Ben Reed – bass guitar (tracks 2, 3, 12)
• Dom Pusey – clarinet (track 3)
• Jazzi Bobbi – vocals (track 10)

Technical

• Matt Colton – mastering (tracks 1–12, 18)
• Kevin Tuffy – mastering (tracks 13–17)
• Nathan Boddy – mixing (tracks 1–12)
• Will Archer – mixing (tracks 13–16), engineering (1, 3–8), additional engineering (9)
• Tom A.D. Fuller – mixing (track 18)
• Bullion – engineering (tracks 2, 12)
• Joe Dworniak – engineering (track 9), additional engineering (1, 3–8, 11)
• Jazzi Bobbi – engineering (track 10)
• Andrew Sarlo – engineering (track 11)
• Oli Barton Wood – engineering (tracks 13–15)
• Lilian Nuthall – mixing assistance
• Andy Ramsay – additional engineering (tracks 1, 4, 6, 8, 11)
• Dom Kirtley – additional engineering (10)
• M T Hadley – additional vocal engineering (11)

Visuals

• Molly Daniel – photography
• Nilüfer Yanya – photography, album artwork design
• Elif Yanya – paintings
• Lauren Harewood – additional font design

Charts

Chart performance for Painless

Chart (2022)	Peak position
Scottish Albums (OCC)[33]	33
UK Albums (OCC)[34]	86

References

1. Cills, Hazel (4 March 2022). "On 'PAINLESS,' Nilüfer Yanya doesn't play nice". NPR. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
2. Petridis, Alexis (3 March 2022). "Nilüfer Yanya: Painless review – refined indie pop with a disquieting lyrical edge". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
3. Hussey, Allison (9 November 2021). "Nilüfer Yanya Announces New Album Painless, Shares Video for New Song "Stabilise": Watch". Pitchfork. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
4. "PAINLESS by Nilüfer Yanya Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
5. Donelson, Marcy. "PAINLESS – Nilüfer Yanya". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
6. Brusie, David (4 March 2022). "Nilüfer Yanya continues to mesmerize on her superlative new record". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
7. Bell, Kaelen (2 March 2022). "Nilüfer Yanya Finds Colour Amidst the Greys on 'Painless'". Exclaim!. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
8. O'Connor, Roisin (4 March 2022). "Album reviews: Nilüfer Yanya – Painless and Kawala – Better With You". The Independent. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
9. Taylor, Chris (1 March 2022). "PAINLESS is a spectacularly woven return from Nilüfer Yanya". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
10. Hunt, El (4 March 2022). "Nilüfer Yanya – 'Painless' review: grunge-inflected album soars when she reaches full-pelt". NME. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
11. Snapes, Laura (4 March 2022). "Nilüfer Yanya: PAINLESS". Pitchfork. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
12. Hobbs, Thomas (3 March 2022). "The great Britrock survivors Stereophonics are back, plus the week's best albums". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
13. Ferla, Lisa-Marie (April 2022). "Nilüfer Yanya: PAINLESS". Uncut (299): 36.
14. "The 25 best albums of 2022 (so far)". The A.V. Club. 28 June 2022. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
15. Authors, BrooklynVegan StaffBrooklynVegan StaffContributing; SacherAm, rew; Pearis, a HatfieldAmy GeigerBill (14 December 2022). "BrooklynVegan's Top 50 Albums of 2022". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
16. Pearis, Bill (22 December 2022). "Indie Basement: Top 40 Albums of 2022". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
17. "Best albums of 2022: Our pick of the top records". Crack Magazine. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
18. McNeal, Bria; Holmes, Dave; Vain, Madison (14 December 2022). "The 25 Best Albums of 2022". Esquire. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
19. "Exclaim!'s 50 Best Albums of 2022 | Exclaim!". exclaim.ca. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
20. Gunn, Charlotte (1 December 2022). "Albums of the year 2022". The Forty-Five. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
21. Jacobs, Deborah (1 December 2022). "The 10 Best Indie Albums 2022". Indie is not a genre. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
22. "Gigwise's 51 Best Albums Of 2022 | Gigwise". www.gigwise.com. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
23. ChrisChris (December 2022). "gorilla vs. bear's albums of 2022". GORILLA VS. BEAR. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
24. N; P; R (12 December 2022). "The 50 Best Albums of 2022". NPR. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
25. Culture, Our (7 December 2022). "The 50 Best Albums of 2022". Our Culture. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
26. "The 50 Best Albums of 2022". pastemagazine.com. 21 November 2022. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
27. "The 50 Best Albums of 2022". Pitchfork. 6 December 2022. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
28. Staff, The Ringer (6 December 2022). "The 33 Best Albums of 2022". The Ringer. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
29. Slant Staff (7 December 2022). "The 50 Best Albums of 2022". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
30. staff, Treble (6 December 2022). "The 50 Best Albums of 2022". Treble. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
31. "Under the Radar Magazine". www.undertheradarmag.com. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
32. "The Best Indie Albums Of 2022". UPROXX. 7 December 2022. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
33. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
34. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 March 2022.