Start Listening To: Thyla

We join the band in a battle to be content and in a search for the ultimate joy.

Coming from all over the world, a bunch of musicians met in South’s quirkiest creative hub, Brighton. Quickly realised their tendency to bang out really strong numbers together, they’ve formed a Thyla. An alt-rock, synth-pop formation fuelled on the absurdity of the world and the will to find some kind of knowledge in the midst of it. With the self-titled debut album out, Thyla is here to get us into all the twisted things.

Can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?

We’re Millie, from New York / Cambridge, Danny from York and Dan from Bournemouth, now all based in Brighton. We make Alt rock, synth pop music.

How did it all start?

We met at university, experimenting in different bands within the Brighton music scene until we settled into Thyla, where we developed our songwriting and crafted our sound to what it is today.

If you were to describe your sound to someone who’d never heard you before, what would you say?

If I had to I’d say it’s guitar driven indie rock with pop hooks and introspective lyrics. It’s difficult to describe your own band though, so I’d say go and listen to us and you’ll get a better idea.

How are you feeling about the release of your debut album?

It’s a great feeling to have your own record physically out and in record shops. So very excited is the answer. There’s also a feeling a of relief, we recorded this album two years ago, and pushed back its release date multiple times and it’s finally out so phew! 

Can you tell us more about the themes behind this album?

Being stuck in a battle to be content, observations on society, and ultimately a search for truth, many of which themes stem from Rabbit Hole, a song about searching for knowledge and realising the more you learn the more there is to know.

What inspires your music?

The absurdity of the world, books and funerals. The song Echo For Ingrid was written after we found a funeral program outside our rehearsal studio for someone named Ingrid. It was an incongruous thing to find and sparked inspiration during our writing session that day. I guess incongruous items or events oKen inspire us because it takes you out your routine and makes you think differently.

What advice would you give for anyone trying to achieve a similar sound to your band?

I’d say just get in a room and make some noise. Experiment and see what happens.

If your music were a film or TV show which would it be?

Our song Everything would be a great fit for a dystopian end-of-the-world drama.

Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s important to you?

Axis: Bold As Love by Jimi Hendrix. I was obsessed with Jimi Hendrix; he’s such an inspired musician and listening to him always reminds me why I started playing in the first place and how exciting it was. 

What do you hate right now?

Bank holidays.

What do you love right now?

Baritone guitars.

What comes next in the THYLA story?

Our next album is well on its way to being written and demoed. Honestly it's exciting to have our first album out, so we can put a full stop on that era, and move on, experimenting in different sounds and writing more mature songs.

Is there any new music you’re enjoying?

Yes, the song Blame by Gabriels is brilliant.