Themis Gkiosasi
Slowthai recently announced details of his new album TYRON due for release on February 5th, 2021. The follow up to his UK top 10, Mercury nominated debut album ‘Nothing Great About Britain’ launched with ‘nhs’, the current single from the record which has so far been Nick Grimshaws's Tune of The Week on BBC Radio 1. Fittingly, Grimmy also asked Ty to do a freestyle on his show this week as a dedication to some specific key workers – watch HERE.
‘Thoughts’ is a surprise track that stands alone from the album. Not featured on TYRON, it’s is a short, sharp burst of the contents of Ty’s head at a moment in time. A freestyle stream of consciousness that he turned out in a heartbeat during a recent session. This is Tyron's insanely insightful, eloquent and movingly talented. Although not on the album, ‘Thoughts’ still very much sums up the themes across it – the dualities we wrestle with in everyday human existence. Beneath the excitable veneer of slowthai’s persona is a constant battle between who he is, the person he has been, and who he is becoming.
\
Pre-order TYRON HERE
TYRON was formed against the backdrop of an unforgiving climate where judgement, shaming and underdeveloped and simplistic conceptions of other people are fashionable. Instead of succumbing to such simplicity, TYRON presents an artist who is unabashedly complicated and willing to explore themes of loneliness, identity, self-acceptance, and the difficulties in becoming an individual. TYRON is a melodic dive through the expansive landscape of his feelings. His ability to bear his imperfections and contradictions makes TYRON an album that is the antithesis of a culture of purity. A resistance to the rising tide of moral one-upmanship and the pervasive self-righteousness that blinds us to our own fallibility.
What is refreshing about TYRON is that the album doesn’t shy away from the mess. If anything he reminds us to make peace with our own inner junkyard, to evolve, create, and learn from it. The album is an antidote for a world filled with suffocating expectations and manicured virtual lives that are often mistaken for reality. It is a call to aspire to wholeness instead of goodness. Like Ty says, if you can “love the world for its flaws, you’ll never be disappointed”. Slowthai shows us that if we stop seeking perfection, we might discover our own treasures, and similarly, if we can find the tragic beauty in imperfection, we might begin to appreciate people for who they are instead of hating them for what they are not.
Follow slowthai HERE