Listen Here: Tyson

Listen Here: Tyson

31 January, 2012
by: TomArmstrong

Act like you know.

It's something I never though I'd say, but Hi-NRG is back. For far too long the highly charged style of electronic disco, popular in the mid '80s, has been treated as the black sheep of the disco family. Dancefloors have cowered in the face of something so black and fiercely gay – hipsters ran for their lives in fear of the high BPMs. Well not on Tyson's watch. The young Londoner has found huge underground popularity with hits like 'Die on the Dancefloor' and 'After You're Gone', which borrow heavily from the pioneering productions of Patrick Cowley and Georgio Moroder.

Surprising then that Tyson had absolutely no knowledge of Hi-NRG music before he began making it. “It was organic,” he tells me in a friendly, confident London accent. “I wasn't born then, I didn't know about it!” It was only after trying his hand at music making software on an old computer that he arrived at the sound by accident: “I got this PC off one of my mates, he probably made the whole thing for £100 quid but he charged me a grand for it,” he laughs. “I got myself Logic 5.5 but I went in completely blind. Basically all I could do was 4/4 beats, and I started singing to it. I listened to what people said it sounded like, the Patrick Cowley, that side of things, even down to Italo [Hi-NRG's European cousin], then I was like ah yeh, maybe I can do this.” For somebody who's kept a purposefully low profile, cutting an enigmatic figure usually hidden behind sunglasses or a mask, Tyson is surprisingly laid back and open about his music. 

In almost every article written about him, Tyson's vocal style has been compared to legendary falsetto and Hi-NRG star Sylvester. He argues that in fact his singing voice came from the more unlikely influence of big haired diva Tina Turner, after growing up hearing her songs as a child. “I didn't even know who Sylvester was. I was doing a showcase when I was seventeen and this A&R from Warner said to me 'oh you sound like Sylvester!' I didn't even look him up after, I didn't even check it up! I just naturally sing like a woman!” he laughs.

Despite only recently finding recognition as a solo artist, Tyson is no newcomer to the music business. A brief fling with fame as one third of electro-funk outfit Unklejam back in 2007 left him somewhat disillusioned with the production-line style process. “Unklejam was meant to be like Parliament, but more of an electronic version, electronic funk,” he recalls. “In the end the record company just made it whatever they wanted to make it and it turned into the Sugababes (laughs). All of a sudden I had girls tattooing the band's logo on their chest. It was boyband stuff, you know what I mean? No one cared about the music.”

He seems to have emerged a wiser artist for it, with clear goals and the confidence which comes from having overcome setbacks. “The fact of the matter is if you stay true to yourself you will get there,” he says. “Whether it takes three years, if you keep going, keep going, keep going you will get there. People want realness now, they don't want
generic.”

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TomArmstrong