THYLA today bring the curtain down on their 2020 by offering us a look into how their 2021 is beginning to shape up.
Locked away, like everyone else this year, the possibilities for a live show of any description were of course few and far between, if non-existent. When the chance for the Brighton band to film a live set at the city’s famous Green Door Store venue popped up, it provided the perfect opportunity to bring music from their long-awaited debut album into a live setting for the first time. In fact, this live version of new track “Dandelion” is the first song to be made available from the record.
Lead singer Millie Duthie offers these thoughts on the track: “Dandelion is the angriest track on the album. It was written from a bass and drum instrumental jam which makes the rhythm section the focal point. Danny actually charted the drums out from the original phone recording and the parts were recorded identically on the album. The lyrical message of the track was inspired by work songs sung by female factory workers during WW2. The women used to sing to the repetitive rhythms of their monotonous labour as a way of coping.
First the heel and then the toe” is the first lyric of the song and it sums up our mantra entirely, keep putting one foot in front of the other and we’ll get there!”
Often found between the bric-a-brac and neon glow of their favourite Brighton drinking and planning den The Bee’s Mouth, as Thyla, Millie Duthie (vocals), Dan Hole (bass), Danny Southwell (drums) and Mitch Duce (guitar) find comfort in the sanctuary of their second home. Out of town, they craft explosive walls of sound from within a dock-side warehouse, culling and tailoring the sonic offspring with immaculate attention to detail. Kids of a musical upbringing, they eschewed the restraints of their childhood music lessons in favour of self-discovery on their own terms and through that, have honed a statement of intent that’s at times dark, but never been clearer; “Group ideology is a bad shout,” tells Millie. “You have the power to change life yourself, you can develop and take responsibility. It’s up to you.”
Putting the personal over the political, the band’s 2020 self-released EP Everything At Once stands defiant as it sees the 4-piece stoke their fire with former setbacks, the turmoil of family illness, juggling shitty day jobs, and navigating modern age induced anxiety. Their music finds strength to challenge expectation, make tough life decisions, and stand up for true art. “Our power comes from us being more united than ever,” tells Mitch. “We’ve been through so much that we rely on each other; every person’s DNA is in each song, especially now we’re doing everything ourselves.” Like their musical heroes My Bloody Valentine or Bloc Party, Thyla’s remarkable blend of vulnerability and beauty with aggression, intense volume, and distortion elegantly captures the frustrations and euphoria of their journey so far.
Whilst some artists decide who or what they are from the start and shape their music to fit, Thyla break the mould. Writing the rules as they go, music is at the front of all they do, and everything bleeds from there. “We’re playing the long game,” Millie tells, perhaps explaining why their debut album has been 5 years in the making. “Our favourite artists didn’t come from a meteoric rise, and like them we don’t want to be flash in the pan; we plan on doing this for a long time and on our own terms.”
Praised for their knack of crafting stand-out singles since the release of their debut EP What’s On Your Mind, Thyla have stormed the airwaves on BBC Radio 1 (Huw Stephens, Jack Saunders) 6 Music (Steve Lamacq), and KCRW in LA. Making the most of Millie’s duel citizenship with debut US shows at SXSW, they’ve tantalised tastemakers on both sides of the Atlantic (Stereogum’s ‘40 best new bands’, Paste’s ‘Top 7 of SXSW’, NME’s ‘Essential Acts,’ Dork’s ‘Top Tips for 2019,’ and Pitchfork). Live, their set is a taught, aural assault having shared stages with Slaves, Rolling Blackout Coastal Fever, touring with Bass Drum of Death, and entrancing festival goers at Live at Leeds, Isle of Wight, not to mention of course, The Great Escape where they hosted and headlined their own basement guerrilla show at their beloved Bee’s Mouth.
Thyla are: Millie Duthie (vocals) | Dan Hole (bass) | Danny Southwell (drums) | Mitch Duce (guitar)
