Queer Joy

Words by Gareth Stevens

Photos by Tim Allen

We all know that if you consciously try to be cool, you'll fail hard and fast. When I tell you that Hayz Harland aka TYGERMYLK started their music career playing in a Jimi Hendrix cover band when they were around eleven years old, and were inspired by the likes of Nick Drake to write songs as an early teen, then you get to understand that being cool is just innate and cannot be premeditated.

It was one of those beautiful sunny mornings we’re becoming accustomed to this year (almost alarmingly so in some respects), that ushered me into Hayz's home. I am welcomed with similar brightness and warmth from them. The spacious south facing room in which we sit is ablaze with sunlight. Clearly an ardent musicophile, Hayz has a wall almost covered with vinyl albums facing out so the sleeve artwork can be appreciated. We discuss some of the featured records, fleetingly disagree about Fleetwood Mac ‘Rumours’, remain composed and move on. We go on to find some musical accord around our shared love of Ezra Furman later.

Two dogs named Foxy and Neil greet me. For reasons unknown, Neil finds my presence disconcerting and Hayz relocates her to the bedroom so she can overcome her minor bout 

of anxiety.

Hayz grew up just outside Portsmouth, eventually moved to Brighton via London and then onto Hastings in 2021 amidst the destabilising effects of the pandemic. “Nowhere has ever felt like home” they tell me “but when I moved to Hastings… I was like oh! This is what home feels like. No place has a community quite like this town. Whilst Brighton is considered a haven for queer folks, it wasn't until I relocated here that I truly found my people.”

“Both my parents were passionately musical.”  Hayz tells me. “My Dad played the piano beautifully. He had a very idiosyncratic technique. A signature style.” They encouraged Hayz to develop their musical talent from an early age. At the age of seventeen Hayz was diagnosed with ME (archaically known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). Whilst they have learned how to manage their condition well, Hayz tells me that “Sometimes I have no choice but to rest… It's forced on me and it is not just a preference. I have to obey my body and take time to recuperate”. I ask them how such a condition affects their ability to play out and tour. “I undertook four tours last year – two in the UK and two in Germany.” they tell me. “In order to do that, I had to plan periods of pre-emptive rest, contingencies during and enough space to recover afterwards”. Layer on layer, Hayz has also undergone multiple throat surgeries of late. Initially a threat to their voice, happily that has not proved to be the case.

While others might have caved under the debilitating weight of such a medical history, Hayz remains strong, resilient and positive.

TYGERMYLK’s beautiful and heartfelt debut single What God Would Keep Us Apart won acclaim from BBC News and the Scene Magazine. A song about forbidden love – and the sense of resignation to that – it is a portent of their future work. The seamless weave of acoustic guitar, heartrending strings and a sweeping chorus in no way detract from the purity of Hayz’s voice and the gravity of the lyrics. Some other highlights of the last few years have included festival appearances at Glastonbury and Isle of Wight, co-writing and featuring on the Amazon Original series Flack (now on BBC iPlayer), and a live TV debut on Channel 4’s The Last Leg.

2025 has been incredibly productive for TYGERMYLK. Earlier this year they released a song called Natali. A eulogy to a doomed yet profound relationship, it is a deeply personal testament to the process of making retrospective sense of a tumultuous emotional experience. It's hugely creative in the way it combines production elements from different genres. The lyrics are poetic and Hayz uses the timing of a freak accident involving a falling rock to express nuances to do with a relationship's demise. Sublime songwriting, Wall of Sound production and a reverential tip of the hat to Sufjan Stevens make it a masterful piece of work.

Then came a song called The Deverills, a piece co-written with Laura Reznek, which Hayz tells me is “about platonic love and friendship.”

Whilst on a tour together the writers started collecting vignettes from the road trips they undertook from venue to venue and wove them together to express the depth of their relationship. It features the Hastings-based Kin Choir – which gives the composition a euphoric, almost gospel inflected feel.

TYGERMYLK’s third single release in the last year is ironically entitled Confetti. Those little pieces of multi-coloured paper that well-wishers shower onto newly-weds are a subtle metaphor for all the myriad societal and tradition based expectations that rain down on and pressurise us to be a certain way, to love according to a pre-written script and that encourage us to conform. It is a wonderful anthem of redemption, self leadership and hope. Not overly valiant, the song takes time to speak of the self reproach Hayz felt. “I was naive” they sing, showing yet again a commitment to making their music detailed, deeply autobiographical and personal. It has the introspection of Kate Bush and the ethereality of the Cocteau Twins. It is a beautiful symphony of sound.

As if three single releases were not enough this year, at the time of writing TYGERMYLK has yet another one forthcoming in late September to look out for. Babe III is a loving lament to her grandfather who passed recently. It describes “how important it is to hold on to joyful memories even when the weight of loss feels all too heavy.” Hayz says that it is a “sonic artefact of that arm of my family as well as a time capsule of a particular summer. I am releasing it on my Dad's birthday as a posthumous gift to him as he sang backing vocals on the recording and unexpectedly passed away a few months later.”

Of their songwriting process, Hayz explains that “a song's life starts as a knotted ball of emotions that I feel in my chest. The journey of writing a song is about unpicking that dense entanglement of feelings thread by thread”. They go on to say that “a song can often be completed in one sitting, which can at times be tearful – a kind of cathartic release.”

A song's life starts as a knotted ball of emotions that I feel in my chest. The journey of writing a song is about unpicking that dense entanglement of feelings thread by thread.

I ask Hayz when they know when a song is finished? They say “It just is! It's as if you just find that last missing piece of a jigsaw and it’s done!”. When it comes to arranging a song, adding other instruments and the engineering (Hayz co-produces all their recordings) – “there is less certainty” they tell me. “I’m such a perfectionist… and so it can be a long winding and frustrating road to completion.”

As if being a musician was not enough for someone with a serious health issue, Hayz has recently launched a new series of regular music events called Queer Ass Folk (also the name of their record label). They describe it as a ‘warm hug’ affair. It is a “grassroots music night amplifying queer voices, fostering community, and redefining live music for LGBTQ+ artists and allies”.

“I met the amazing musician, Charlie Austen at Pride and hatched the idea of a celebratory queer night” they tell me. When I ask Hayz why there is still a pronounced need to create inclusively queer nights, they argue that despite dramatic and positive steps in the right direction having been made, the music industry can still be homophobic and exclusory. “Celebrating queer joy is an act of resistance in the face of targeted media and political campaigns towards queer and trans people” they say.

Celebrating queer joy is an act of resistance in the face of targeted media and political campaigns towards queer and trans people

Following a sell-out debut in 2024, Queer Ass Folk was invited to curate a stage for Trans Pride Hastings and has hosted a stage at SXSW London. With support from Arts Council England and Chalk Cliff Trust, this is just the beginning of something much bigger. “Prioritising fair pay, accessibility, and inclusivity, the event fosters genuine connection, providing a home for queer music lovers, introverts, and neurodivergent individuals alike.” they explain.

TYGERMYLK’s debut album is set for release on the 14th November and will 

be officially launched five days later at St Pancras Old Church in London. Entitled Local Girl, Always Tired, Hayz explains that it is a “coming of age record, shaped by my life experiences, resilience and tireless advocacy for LGBTQIA+ rights and disability inclusion. While I don’t consider myself a “girl”, the title comes from a lyric from the album’s title-track. If I ever make the headlines, it would read in bold type: 'Local Girl, Always Tired' which is a sentiment I can very much relate to.”

I find it humbling that, despite the many travails and medical adversities they have had to face, TYGERMYLK persistently invites us to stand alongside them as they intimately express what it means to live a deliberate and examined life. Their music clearly shows us that deep non ego-led reflection, a resistance to prescribed cultural and social conditioning and the very process of creativity itself can promote and sustain a productive journey to self realisation.

It seems to me that TYGERMYLK's music is a sonic celebration of something Carl Jung once argued. He said that “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct you and you will call it fate.”

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