HYYTS Are Blending Pop Ambition With Intimacy
The Glasgow risers break down their sound...
Glasgow based alt-pop partnership *HYYTS* never do things in the way you'd expect them to.
Out now, their new EP 'Helluvatime' is an off piste take on a relationship, a song cycle that charts the rise and demise of a love affair.
The twist? They do it all in reverse. A kinda play on the old adage that life can only be understood in reverse, 'Helluvatime' also feature some terrific ear-worm melodies.
Hailed by Radio 1 and lauded by none other than Elton John, the EP is out now and it's a deliriously original alt-pop proposition.
Clash sat down with HYYTS to break down their sound...
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*Japanese House (feat. Justin Vernon) - 'Dionne'*
This one was really really important! We sort of broke the EP into two sections, of falling in and falling out of love, which aligned weirdly well with our actual lives at the time.
One of us was settling into a really beautiful loving relationship while the other went through a pretty horrific break up which fuelled a lot of the latter. The lyric ‘how your past becomes your present when it’s always on your mind’ was particularly important which partly led us to flip the narrative on its head and start the EP with the end of the relationship.
We’ve always loved working with contrast and this song does that amazingly well - the track is so triumphant and huge while the lyrics are supper defeated and kinda bitter. So good!
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*MUNA - 'I Know A Place'*
MUNA changed the game for us a little bit!! They carry that Robyn crying on the dance floor energy we love to dip our toes in til they prune. Only thinking about now I realise there are loads of similarities to this tune and 'Kinda Need You Here Tonight' - the verses are super reflective and angsty til you hit into the chorus and it’s like OK righto let’s have a wee dance troops it’ll all be fine.
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*The Magnetic Fields - 'Come Back From San Francisco'*
Stephen Merritt is probably our biggest influence lyrically and I’ve been listening to '69 Love Songs' on repeat and every time picking up a new favourite. This is one of my fave songs ever - conversational but still heartbreaking and just perfect pop music.
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*Petey - 'Don’t Tell The Boys'*
Petey is an absolute legend. It’s like new wave synth emo it’s so good. The lyrics to this song are perfect and they really tackle the whole masculinity vs emotion thing that we talk about a lot so we just fell in love with this. Any big sad dude shouting about his feelings over synths is our thing entirely.
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*Maroon 5 - 'Nobody’s Love'*
Maroon 5 are a band of goat men with beautiful voices and they must be tanning the stem cells 'cos they’ve got the gift of infinite youth. Their music is still so fresh for guys that are all like 50 and married to hand models.
Lol* jokes* aside we adore Baroon 5 and this is such a tune. Big inspiration.
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