Biography

On the back of performances at SXSW, a support tour with the Mystery Jets and funded by PRS foundation, Newcastle artist Ruth Lyon recently recorded her new EP Direct Debit to Vogue with John Parish (Aldous Harding, This Is The Kit, PJ Harvey). This new body of work is offbeat, sophisticated chamber pop and Anti-Folk, commanded by soulful vocals and witty yet raw lyricism. 
 The key themes that Lyon found at the core of all the songs were power in fragility and beauty in imperfection. This turns on its head all of the societal assumptions presented by magazines like Vogue, and opens up doors to a new kind of self acceptance and power. “ I think it’s very, very personal, but it doesn’t sound preachy, which I really liked. I wanted to tread a line of saying something powerful and interesting and speaking honestly about stuff that is sometimes hard to talk about, but without it sounding, like, ugh.” 
 Equally as important as what it means to her, Lyon adds, is the impact it will have on listeners. “ I want it to be very inclusive, like anybody could listen to any of the songs and come up with their own story, or it would mirror their individual circumstances,” she says. “ I wanted to evoke the feeling of music that just punches you in the gut – to emotionally drag some stuff out of people.” She concludes Direct Debit to Vogue’s journey with four simple words: “ I found my voice.” 
 Photography by Tash Barker