#51 Deeper Into Outer Space | TYSON
London alt-electronic artist TYSON on new music, working with Dean Blunt and how she’s co-founded the Ladies Music Pub movement…
“Artists should be able to make music however they want to and decide how it’s released themselves,” says London electronic-R&B innovator TYSON.
Not only is she an eclectic and bold creative talent, TYSON is also behind the Ladies Music Pub (LMP) collective. This was set up with manager Hannah TW and co-run with Marina Garvey Birch (who also co-manages TYSON) and is a statement of defiant intent. It’s since grown into a network of more than 6,000 women and gender-nonconforming people in music.
“Even though a lot of the music industry seems to have decided that things can only be done one way, ultimately, you should just be able to act however you want,” TYSON continues. “This is art and there are no rules.”
LMP was co-founded more than a decade ago as a reaction to the rigid constrictions of a male-centric industry. Driven by a desire to embody independence and make a space outside of more mainstream machinations, LMP has evolved into a home for many. TYSON’s own artist project has evolved alongside this collective, similarly defying easy categorisation. From the energy of her ‘Chaos’ EP, released via LuckyMe, to new music, ‘The Edge’ and ‘Away’, on her own LMP label, she’s worked with the likes of Dean Blunt, Leon Vynehall and childhood friend Oscar Scheller to hone in on songwriting soul, experimental ambience and a love of UK bass culture. She also happens to be the daughter of national musical treasure Neneh Cherry and producer Cameron McVey, who have also passed on their own strain of independent energy.
“I like working with Dean because he has his own method and doesn’t care what anyone else thinks or how they operate,” TYSON states.
“He’s like my mum, he’s got a strong, devoted fanbase, has said fuck you to all of the rules and it’s totally working for him.”
London grown
TYSON is a creative comfortable in a variety of cultural spaces - from performing within the improvisational spaces of East London’s Cafe OTO and avant garde mavericks like Khalil El Zabar, or interviewing Dennis Bovell at the Southbank Centre, her attitude is all encompassing and communal.
“I think there’s a lot of inspiration from my mum, she started off in bands as I did too,” she explains about her way into the industry. TYSON first caught attention via the band Panes before striking out on her own.
“Being a solo artist can be quite a lonely experience at times and I find that when I move with people around me, I feel less stressed - more brains are often better than one.”
She’s embodied this approach in her music, releasing with babyfather on ‘ICL’, alongside Sam Akpro for the soulful ‘Wayside’, Leon Vynehall on the beautiful track ‘Scab’, Miso Extra on ‘Candy Crushin’ and ‘Water’ with Yazmin Lacey. Most recently, TYSON programmed a stage with the latter at The Music is Black Festival’s Power and Respect festival.
“I’m currently in the midst of making my album and I think it’s important to bring in other people to help with the songwriting, it just unlocks new levels as opposed to me just working on my own,” TYSON says.
“Most of the time, a collab is fun and it gives me energy, I always need people to bounce off. Me and my mum are quite similar in this way - on your own, it can be a bit of an echo chamber.”
“The start of my artist project was with Oscar and from day one it’s always had this collaborative energy.”
‘The Edge’
TYSON’s latest material is the result of collaborations, ‘Away’ and ‘The Edge’, with the unrivalled producer and artist Nosaj Thing and her long-term musical collaborator Coby Sey. These new tracks live and breathe in the hinterlands between bitterness and animosity, tenderness and pain.
“I write a lot of songs about power dynamics in relationships from past experiences I’ve had,” she explains. “My songwriting is definitely bringing out some of the difficult and frustrating experiences I’ve had as a woman in music.”
“‘Away’ is more vulnerable and fed up while ‘The Edge’ is just raging. Me and Coby have a special connection, I don’t have to explain what the song is about, he will just add to it, as if he’s in my brain, it’s amazing.”
This musical confidence to let more of herself out in her music has come through writing and working with others. Alongside Oscar, she cites hooking up with Dean Blunt as a key connection. The pair released the tracks, ‘Pressed’ and ‘Rinsed’ in 2023.
“When I started working with Dean, I wasn’t very confident and I hadn’t released anything at this point, he was so supportive,” she says.
“That’s how I gravitate to people, I trust taste and we send things back and forth, it’s just very natural, I love working like this. Things can take a long time to happen in the music industry and people can take it seriously too. I take it seriously as well but sometimes if we try and have more fun, then we can make better music and greater control over things.”
Songwriting energy
Born in London to Neneh and producer Cameron, TYSON’s family moved to Sweden as a teenager. She found the relocation difficult and returned to the capital to study at Goldsmith’s which is where her musical life truly began.
“I came back when I was 20 on my own and I think that’s the start of the story, I went to uni but my whole world outside of that was going to parties,” TYSON explains. “A lot of those connections, I still have.”
Parties included Work It at Visions and Livin’ Proof before attending NTS nights where she would meet the likes of Dean and James Messiah. She also remembers Andy Blake’s World Unknown as a highlight of her raving days.
“When I started partying in a heavier capacity, I was going to World Unknown and discovered that I loved dancing to this strain of club music,” TYSON says. “I’d been going to parties based around Black music but it was important for me to find this other side to London. That’s what I love about the city, how all these different scenes, ages, backgrounds and genres can merge together.”
Hailing from a musical family (with sister Mabel a huge pop star success), you’d be forgiven in thinking TYSON was always looking to songwriting as a way of expressing herself. But it was something she was set against when going out clubbing.
“I was a total rebel as everyone in my family makes music, so I was like I’m not going to do that. But in retrospect, there was something missing. I loved meeting people, was looking for something, and it took me a while to realise what it was. I just started gravitated to these creative people.”
Initial attention came via joining a band, Panes. The group received some hype back in 2014 and played a number of live shows but the sudden rush around the group threw TYSON.
“I wasn’t sure on how to handle the industry, I was still quite young and found it overwhelming, particularly as a woman in music,” she states. “It was around this time that LMP started and I remember this session with Dean, Lord Tusk, James Messiah, Coby and many others were there jamming. Someone gave me a microphone and, said: ‘Do something’. I started from there even though I didn’t know what to do.”
Ladies Music Pub
LMP is now more than ten years old and a vital space for TYSON and her co-founder and manager, Hannah TW. The idea came from Hannah emailing a group of women the pair knew in the industry, then inviting them to get together in the pub.
“I wouldn’t be doing music now if it wasn’t for LMP,” TYSON says. “There wasn’t an agenda about fixing things, it was more about coming together, seeing each other and realising that women are already doing so much in the industry that they are not recognised for. We know there is a huge gender imbalance and we know all the frustrations that we’re experiencing.”
Years later the monthly meetings still take place where the group can share stories, experiences and insights they’ve gleaned from trying to navigate the business.
It gave TYSON a lifeline when she was younger and helped her steer this artist project to where it is today - with an album now percolating ready to drop.
“I remember going into these meetings with Panes and they’d talk about me as if I wasn’t there,” she says. “I thought that maybe I wouldn’t have quit the first time around if it had been different.”
“So we started our own label, we programme festival line-ups, provide creative direction. There’s lots of stuff inside it, it’s been so important, it’s the only way I can do this.”
While also being a parent and attempting to navigate London life, there’s plenty going on for TYSON alongside a forthcoming record. But throughout her career so far she’s continually put herself out there, no matter the pressures.
“The album is keeping me busy and life keeps happening around it, although I think I have all the tracks now. It’s a scary thing - I’ve been putting off making an album until the right time - and now it’s happening.”
Connect with TYSON: Instagram | TikTok | Spotify | LMP
Image credits: Marina Garvey Birch (Coby/TYSON) | Ruby Harris (Live pic) | Nothing Yet (B&W pics)
LMP’s next meeting is on the 30th July at the Halley Studios in Haggerston - free tickets are here