TATYANA

“Don’t come closer, because I might hurt you boy / You don’t deserve it, I treat you like a toy.” So sings 28-year-old South East London musician Tatyana on “It’s Over”, a sad and squelchy electro-leaning earworm about desire, loss and grey-area relationships. Much of second album It’s Over is like this: bright, danceable electronics paired with lyrics about frustration, anger and confusion. “I think people are afraid of being hurt and I’m the opposite,” she says. “I’m like, hurt me, because that’s where real life happens. You can never protect yourself from everything.”

If you’ve heard Tatyana’s name before, it’s probably because she released a debut album back in 2022, Treat Me Right, co-produced with Metronomy’s Joe Mount, a record she describes as more of a collaboration. For It’s Over, Tatyana took control of every aspect of the album’s creation, from the production (she co-produced it alongside Mikko Gordon) to the artwork and the technology she used throughout (KORG plug-ins, like one of her favourite artists Maurice Fulton, and Elektron synths, like The Knife). “This record made me technically proficient because I really pushed myself,” says Tatyana. “I figured out a lot of things that I didn’t know before. In the past, I allowed others to lead the charge and I’m not doing that any more.”

Primarily written and produced over the summer of ‘23, It’s Over follows the loose trajectory of a not-quite-relationship from the year before. But, more than that, it’s an album about modern dating, alienation and the confines of existing online. Even the album name, It’s Over, is itself a nod to the popular meme (It’s over, we’re back!). Internet language permeates this record in the same way it permeates our intimate lives (on first single “Down Bad”, a chest-thumping, clattering dance track, she sings lightly, “I wish I could delete these feelings, I wish I didn’t need to see ya”) “The language [of the album] is how I speak to my friends,” Tatyana explains. “It’s so part of my intimate personal relationships.”

Born in London, before moving to Russia, Holland and Singapore in her teens, before eventually studying music at Berklee College in the USA – which she attained on full scholarship – and then back to London, Tatyana imbues her music with both haywire technical proficiency and encyclopaedic, far-flung tastes. Mostly, though, her sound originates from a pure love of the dancefloor: Robyn, Tirzah, Mica Levi, Jessy Lanza, The Knife. You can hear these dance-pop influences everywhere, from the colourful synth shapes of “Control ft. Dave Okumu” to the crackling analogue hiss of “Nothing is True, Everything is Possible” and the swirling, undulating melodies of “Out of Time”. Lean in a little closer, too, and you might catch the shimmer of a harp on every song (she’s played harp since she was a little girl, and toured extensively as a professional session harpist).

You could view It’s Over as an introduction to Tatyana, showing the full breadth of what she’s about – at least for this snapshot in time. “I write about love, I write about romance, these are the things that interest me,” says Tatyana. “That’s what this record is. It’s about this relationship that broke my brain and I had to write about it.”