Introducing Yasmin, who is a singer

It seems weird to me that record labels all try to push their new acts in the first four weeks of the year. Why create a bottleneck of talent in the middle of January, when music TV schedules are up the junction and the entertainment news pages are dominated by the Grammys, Brits, Baftas and Oscars?

Still, that has become the accepted pattern, much in the same way that all the celebrity autobiographies come out on the same day in October, and you can't see a decent 2D film between July and September. The mind boggles.

Fighting her way through the throng this January will be surname-deficient soulstress Yasmin. She got a crafty head start on the others when she guested on Devlin's single Runaway back in October, and now she's got her very own recording contract with Ministry Of Sound.

Her debut single, On My Own, is extremely listenable in a retro 1990s trip-hop kind of way. Produced by sometime Dizzee Rascal collaborator Shy FX, it brings to mind Shara Nelson-era Massive Attack, or the Sneaker Pimps when they were good.

Yasmin describes the song as a real-life riches-to-rags tale, about how she "left University in Scotland, much to my parents dismay," and moved to London to become a DJ.

"The record really reflects on many a late night," she says, "when I would finish dj-ing and go sit in Kings Cross St Pancras train station waiting for the first train home. It was pretty easy to feel kind of isolated, but this was the only thing I wanted to do so I just got on with it."

I'm not quite sure yet whether I love the song, or just the choppy drum loop that powers it along. But I'm going to keep listening until I'm 100% sure. This process will not be made any more arduous by the fact that Yasmin is easier on the eye than a vat of Optrex.

In case you're interested, I have embedded a video of the radio edit (polished, funky) and a 1Xtra session (ragged, sexy) below.


Yasmin - On My Own


Yasmin - On My Own (live from Maida Vale)

Yasmin has a website, enitrely written in an indecipherable bold italic font. If you are a fan of punishing eyestrain, click here.

Tweet