That Ilgen-Nur’s EP No Emotion counts among the best coming-of-age soundtracks ever made and played by the Elbe (and there are quite a few of them!) already becomes clear after a few bars. The refrain “I’m just trying to be cool, but I feel like a fool” chimes in after only 37 seconds and, for the author of these lines, recalls epiphanies like the one that struck upon first hearing The Strokes’ “Is this It?”. Ilgen-Nur is 21 years old and just discovering who she is. She wonders how this whole ‘life’ thing goes; she wonders who she wants to be tomorrow, who she was when she was 17, and why it’s all so difficult. And in turn we ask ourselves, “Do the rest of you wonder that sometimes, too?” There’s one comfort there: to share doubt and misfortune, if only for a moment, with Ilgen-Nur – after all, she has a lot to teach about coolness (although no, of course we’re not “just trying to be cool”!): that having rings under your eyes can be hot; that smudged lipstick is totally ok; that sometimes you just need to freak out; and that it’s best to release your first album as a tape. And the big TSF Sympathy Prize for 2017 goes to …
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