“Yaramaz” is a Turkish word; translated literally, it means something like “good-for-nothing.” The term is often used towards small children when they are being cheeky and rebellious. Güner Künier named her second album “Yaramaz” to tell her own coming-of-age story through the means of punk and post-punk. It is about freeing oneself from societal and familial expectations — and overcoming the feeling of being less valuable than others.

This central theme is articulated from multiple different angles. In “Down Down,” a track featuring a punchy synth-punk beat and noisy guitar riffs, the arduous and challenging process of self-empowerment is elucidated. Künier hints at psychological blindspots that must be endured and overcome (“Exercise me/ all the way down/ living in the shadow”).In “Eye Shadow”, Künier grapples with her own sense of otherness (“I told you once/ and they’re never stepping back/ I told you twice/ and they are hitting right back”). In this song and throughout the record, freeing oneself from external expectations and validation is cast as a double-edged sword; “One’s own emancipation also brings loneliness and sorrow because it causes me to lose familial connections,” Künier explains, “at the same time, a different kind of love and solidarity emerges in my life.” The Turkish-language “Yanıma Yat” (“Lie Down Next To Me”) explores the nurturing and love we receive from the relationships we choose for ourselves.

Post-punk and minimal/synth-wave are the main musical reference points on “Yaramaz,” but there are many other (sub)genres that have left their mark. Expansive shoegaze sounds, a Velvet-Undergroundnoir- vibe, and a touch of krautrock are the ingredients of the opening track “Ne Var” (“What’s Up”). There are also echoes of riot grrrl in the work; in “Cash Cash Exercise”. Künier experiments with megaphone effects on her voice, creating a sound that resembles a crossover between Le Tigre, Peaches, and DAF. Other tracks like “Eye Shadow,” “Sabahlar” (“Mornings”), or “Yanıma Yat”, are classic synth-punk, featuring repetitive beats and loops, occasionally interrupted by a guitar, while Künier often sings with a cool detachment. Overall, “Yaramaz” sounds like an empowering album with a simple yet important message: follow your own path and don’t let anything deter you.

Güner Künier was born in Izmir, Turkey, in 1990 and moved at the age of three with her family to Flensburg, where she also grew up. As a teenager she played in her first bands before she started to study industrial engineering in Heide/Holstein and went to Berlin in 2014. After completing her studies in Berlin she devoted herself entirely to art and worked as an actress and musician. In the early 2020s she started to make music solo. Her debut EP was released in 2021, a year after her first album “Aşk”. Güner Künier toured Germany, Switzerland and Austria, performed in the Netherlands and England. In 2024 she played, among other shows, at the Eurosonic Festival in Groningen and at the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg.