NYC Scene Report – Emily Yacina, Best Ex, & more

This week’s NYC Scene Report features Emily Yacina’s “Arcades & Highways,” Best Ex’s video for “Bad Love,” Emmrose singing something for the “Hopeless Romantics,” and Quiet Luke getting “Familial.”

* Last month when I posted the video for Emily Yacina’s “Gleaming” I noted my only problem with it was that I wanted to hear more. Well, ask and you shall receive!

The NYC, by way of Pennsylvania, singer-songwriter released her debut album, Remember the Silver earlier this month, the latest single off of which is “Arcades & Highways.”

Another indie pop gem, Yacina’s breezy vocals are simply gorgeous on “Arcades & Highways,” which features a summery vibe warm enough to make you forget it’s winter outside.

Click play to hear what I mean.


* Back in October I wrote about Best Ex’s fantastic single “Bad Love,” and now there’s even more “Bad Love” because there’s a video for the ridiculously catchy song.

In case anyone needs to be caught up, Best Ex is the project of Mariel Loveland, former frontwoman of the band Candy Hearts, and while her sound has changed, the emotion has remained.

“We had this gritty, raw energy that I always tried to harness as our superpower,” Loveland explained in a statement. “Lyrically … we still exist in the same realm. There’s that heartbreak, that rawness, and that tongue-in-cheek demeanor, because if I can’t laugh about the sheer amount of times my heart has been broken, I don’t know how I’d survive.”

Loveland is currently working on the follow-up to the Best Ex EP Ice Cream Anti Social, and you can experience her “Bad Love” right here.


* When you first hear Emmrose sing you’ll think she should be spending her time on stage in an upscale jazz lounge rather than being stuck in a math class. The high school junior’s latest single is “Hopeless Romantics,” a song with a Latin flavor, and her trademark bold vocals.

“The song is about a hopeless ‘relationship’ I had last year,” Emmrose said of the inspiration for the “Hopeless Romantics.” “I’d wonder whether or not it was real the entire time. On some days he’d say the nicest things, and then I’d hear nothing at all. I felt used, really.”

When it comes to the creation of the song, she shared, “I originally wrote it on the ukulele, and kept going with that vibe because I thought it was fun and felt really natural to try something new.”

Trust me when I say you don’t have to be a hopeless romantic to enjoy this one.


* New York-based singer-songwriter Quiet Luke was featured here a handful of times throughout 2016 and 2017, but for the past two years he’s been a bit … well, quiet. That is, until this month, when he finally released his debut album, 21st Century Blue.

The first single off of 21st Century Blue is “Familial,” and even though we may not have heard from him in a while, Quiet Luke clearly hasn’t lost a step.

A mixture of indie pop, R&B, downtempo, and dark synthpop, “Familial” is a song you should definitely click play on.


For more of the best of NYC’s indie music scene, come back next Wednesday, and check out the archives for previous columns.