For On The Record, we’re joined by alt-pop artist Tygermylk who crafts dreamy, emotionally rich soundscapes from her base in St Leonards-on-Sea. Sine she began sharing music in 2018, she’s become known for her confessional songwriting and shimmering production which walks the line between heartfelt intimacy and playful surrealism. In keeping with her signature style, Tygermylk recently released ‘Natali’. Born from a bizarre real-life incident involving a falling crystal, a blossoming love, and a head injury that ultimately reshaped her view of identity, queerness and relationships. We wanted to explore the real story behind ‘Natali’, especially the healing power of humor and the unpredictable beauty of letting go. Tygermylk also gives us a peek into her creative process, her love for sonic chaos and her upcoming debut album. Get ready to meet an artist who embraces life’s strangeness with open arms and an open heart.
Welcome to Unrecorded! For those who aren’t already familiar with Tygermylk, can you introduce yourself?
Hey! Thanks for having me. I’m Tygermylk – a songwriter, producer and independent artist from St Leonards-on-Sea. I make dreamy, nostalgic alt-pop that’s lyrically focused and super personal.
Your new single ‘Natali’ captures both the absurdity and depth of real-life events. Can you explain the strange incident that changed your perception on the world?
I used to keep this huge ornamental geode crystal on a shelf above my bed because it was supposed to have excellent energetic properties for sleeping. One day, I fell for a woman (Natali), and while we were in bed together, that geode fell onto me. I ended up in A&E and spent months recovering from post-concussion syndrome. It felt too poetic to ignore—like the universe literally dropped a rock on my head the moment things were shifting in my life. Both of us took it as a bit of a sign; I can’t speak for Natali but for myself a lot of things had to change and and unfortunately that marked the end of our love affair.
The song also reflects on discovering your queerness. Did writing ‘Natali’ help you process that?
Absolutely. I think writing the song was part of reclaiming that experience. There was a lot of emotional whiplash—joy, confusion, grief, but songwriting helped me untangle that and at the song’s core is a loving goodbye to Natali and that period of my life.
How do you feel about your identity and relationships these days?
I feel much more grounded now and pretty clear on who I am. I’m not trying to fit into anything anymore. I’m just letting myself be and learning to love that.
Coming back to ‘Natali’, it has an intricate, shifting structure that refuses to settle. How did you approach the songwriting and arrangement to reflect the song’s themes?
The song itself fell out of me in the space of an hour the morning she left, as a way to process that loss I guess. When it came to producing the song, I wanted it to feel a bit unhinged—like it was constantly slipping sideways. There’s a dreamlike quality to everything when you’ve had a head injury, so the time signatures and arrangement mirror that disorientation.
The saxophone adds a playful chaos to the track, so was that always part of the vision or did it come later in the recording process?
I honestly thought I’d finished the song years ago! We were in the studio recording sax with Donovan Haffner & Tony Burrata for another song and had some time leftover so we just decided to open up the old session and mess around with it through this delay pedal. The sax tied everything together in this unexpected way and took it in an even dreamier direction. We loved it so much we’ve decided to release a mellow sax only version (coming soon!).
There’s a dark comedy running through your songwriting, especially with lines like “I’d give you all my love with a Darwin Award.” How important is humor in your songwriting?
Humour is how we get through the tough stuff! That line is a love letter and a roast at the same time. I mean, I could’ve died in the most ridiculous way, I had to be able to make fun of myself.
You’ve mentioned influences like Big Thief and Phoebe Bridgers. Why are you drawn to their music in particular?
Those first records both genuinely changed the way I look at music. There is something so honest about the attention to detail in their lyrics and musicality that stopped me being afraid of looking silly and just lean into the silliness and sadness and write authentically, as well as try new things.
What do you hope that listeners will take away from ‘Natali’?
I hope it reminds people that life is strange and beautiful, and we are complex creatures. And even if you are THAT unlucky in love, hopefully you can still find a way to laugh about it.
And finally, do you have any more releases planned for this year? Or anything else that we should be looking out for?
Yes! Natali is the start of a new chapter—there’s more songs on the way. I’ve been working on my debut album for what seems like decades now and I am so excited to get it out there later in the year. I’m releasing completely independently so it’s the most “me” my music has ever been. I’ll also be playing at SXSW London in June, my non-profit org that promotes LGBTQ+ music, Queer Ass Folk is co-curating a stage.
You can also find ‘Natali’ in our Shades of Pop playlist.
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