Ahead of their concert to promote their new EP Dust, bc magazine spoke to TYNT‘s Rothchild Wong about the band and their new music.
For those readers who don’t yet know TYNT (why not?), can you introduce the band?
Hello! We are a 4 piece music group formed in 2018 and still going strong. Hanz sings beautifully, Bunny plays guitar as Ruff and Steven stroke, twiddle and caress our synthesizers.
Covid has been difficult for Hongkongers, as a band how frustrating has it been not to be able to play live?
Being in a band and working in the music scene in general over the last three years has been incredibly frustrating, though it is just one of many industries that have been ruined by the pandemic and lockdown procedures.
While artists have been able to focus on creating their music for a while, the music infrastructure like venues and promoters is still struggling with restrictions. Bigger venues like Macpherson, EMAX and West Kowloon are now able to host covid restricted concerts, but smaller music venues have long been out of work and business since 2020.
As a band, it is definitely frustrating that playing a show is so difficult these days, but in the grand scheme of things we are just one small piece of the whole puzzle.
How did the new EP Dust come about? Why Dust?
Dust came about as a natural progression from our first album Symbol (2020). We had a few of these songs down a long time ago even before we completed Symbol, but the entire process got delayed multiple times these past years.
We thought that while these tracks sound like a new direction for us, we also see that the 5 tracks have a lot of our older identity, so we want to release them as an EP; a sort of transition before our next evolved form during the next album.
We came up with the title, because Dust seems to reflect the fleeting nature of time, and is always what is left at the end of the day. We thought this sentiment would fit this EP, which signifies a stage of development for us.
Talk us through the five tracks and the inspiration behind the songs?
While our songs are usually developed after a spontaneous process of trial and experimentation, we do retrospectively look back at the work and find some references and inspiration to further complete the picture.
While not specifically referencing any artist in any certain song, we have been exploring more electronic/synth-based tonalities similar to those used by artists like Caribou and Baths.
Dust is a lot less dark/depressing/post-rock compared to Symbol, but it does have some dark and moody elements in Dogeyes and Hurtlocker. While Dai Mond and Freak are tracks where we have begun to experiment and incorporate other elements.
Where can readers buy Dust?
Digital copies will be on sale at our TYNT bandcamp page. When the physical copies are ready, they will be available to purchase at most of HK main independent record stores.
Follow our instagram and facebook pages to find out more!
What next for Tynt?
Hopefully after the show, we will have some time to work on our new songs. We will have a slot at the Tone Music Festival in October, but looking forward to playing more shows when things hopefully begin to open up even more!
TYNT – Dust EP Release Concert
Support: Bedroom Party, Manson Vibes
Date: 8pm, 26 August, 2022
Venue: Kitec, Music Zone@E-Max
Tickets: $500, $420 at Ticketcats
image: @kenneviaphotography