Nilüfer Yanya teases new EP with "The Florist", talks refugee projects in Athens

"The Florist" welds cheek and swagger to an emotional intensity, delivered with confidence and incredible musicianship. Remember when you first heard Dirty Projectors and realised just how much joy David Longstreth has in creating and peforming? That's Yanya all over.

"I wrote 'The Florist' when I realised properly for the first time that things don't last forever but I was still in denial about things having to end," Yanya tells us. "Really I was chasing something that didn't even exist; just a feeling, a kind of high."

Yanya has also been running arts and music classes in European refugee camps with her sister Molly (also the director of videos for her tracks "Small Crimes" and "Keep On Calling") under the title Artists In Transit. "Molly and I set up Artists in Transit in October last year... to offer solidarity through the sharing of skills and joint experience In the best way we can as people," she explains. "Molly had volunteered the year before in Kos and was planning to volunteer in Athens with me and my mum, but wanted to go with a more structured plan on how she could help."

The sisters came up with the idea of art workshops "as a way to really just spend time with people, something just to maybe take their minds off what they might be experiencing even if it's for a few minutes." They collaborated with Project ELEA - who work with residents of the Eleonas Refugee Camp in Athens to improve living standards and community well-being - and homeless charity STEPS. "We thought our workshops might be better received within an existing structure," Yanya explains, "[and] we also wanted to be able to volunteer and help where ever it was needed."

"There was a lot to take in on the first few days but you sort of step out of your own head and that's when you start actually thinking on your feet and connecting with people. All the people we worked with were really open to trying out things. A lot the activities we did with the children ended up in a mess of course! but that was great really because it meant they were having fun."

The experience was a reflective one for Yanya: "I think from working with the children I learnt about myself that I hadn't changed that much since being a child myself. I could actually see myself in a lot of them."

"I don't think people really do change that much as they age, we just gain perspective."