PETER LYONS

Artwork and image is a very important part of the puzzle that is music but sometimes it can be hard to pinpoint how vital it is in a release. Before hearing today’s tip ‘Leave Me’, which is gorgeous by the way, I had seen the unpleasantly disfigured artwork shared around blogs all week. In this instance, artwork is important.

The picture of Peter Lyons’ face, covered in burnt out holes rather perfectly sums up the disjointed nature of his creative thinking in the music that accompanies it. He makes electronic, down tempo pop music with ‘Leave Me’, with many ideas going on in the song.

It starts with soothing crush beats and submerged sounding synth beeps whilst Peter croons softly over it. A quick crescendo leads into a blizzard of auto tuned harmonies not unlike some of Bon Iver’s best moments. And then we are amazed by a strings section out of the blue. All in all, the final product is a stunning pop song with big, loud heights and super intimate quiet moments.

In the picture we’re drawn in by something we’re unsure about what to expect, and the music draws us in with something unexpected also.

It’s the first piece of music we’ve heard from an upcoming EP which will no doubt bring us more insight into the brilliantly varied mind of Peter Lyons.

Words by Ian Hastie

Tipped by Ben Ryder-Smith