Yellow Days Harmless Melodies

"The reason why I make music is to understand myself and the world around me," sums up the Manchester-raised, Surrey-based musician, whose candid, soul-doused songs have guided a spotlight on him since emerging in 2016. On 2017's debut EP Harmless Melodies and the full-length project Is Everything Okay In Your World? , we witnessed the first steps in van den Broek's coming-of-age story. Both works, written and recorded in his garden shed and released via Good Years, vividly document new relationships blooming and old ones fizzing out. George is in possession of a rich, smoke-stained voice, which lends itself neatly to stripped-down soul or frenzied psych. Outside of Yellow Days, he also makes beats and hip-hop instrumentals, and a 2017 collaboration with Irish rapper Rejjie Snow (Lately I) hints at another future path to head down. "[Hip-hop] is something I really want to delve into the future. It's within my goals."But while his work transgresses simple categorisation, the feeling within these songs is easier to capture. "I just see music as something that is honest and pure. It's all about feelings and truth and honesty," he states. He relates to old-school heroes like Ray Charles and Billie Holiday; singers who allow the cracks and imperfections to show through their emotion. And he aligns himself with fellow modern-day self-starters like Mac DeMarco and Tame Impala's Kevin Parker, independent forces who've perfected their own, untouchable sound. "They're all well-read musicians who have a vision, and that's what music should be about. It's not a vanity project, it's some real shitt." Sincerity lines the seams of van den Broek's songs, and he's been rightly praised for his ability to detail struggles with mental health, especially at a time when speaking up is paramount. "I can talk about my feelings 'til the sun goes down with my friends," he laughs, but he admits that music, which he describes as a "diary", is his one true outlet for expression. "I love to just assess my own human condition; why I act a certain way. That debate constantly goes on in my music." "The whole point of Yellow Days is to be a project about youth," he states. "It's all about being young and having this overwhelming sense of emotion, this confusion, all heading towards an eventual goal of happiness."