BEST NEW INDIE: TYSM - GHOST WHITE DRESS

TYSM’s “Ghost White Dress” is a transmission from the afterlife of romance. 

Nashville’s TYSM has been chronicling the various stages of love, romance, and the unfortunate decline of both over the course of her short-but-successful career. “Honeymoon Phase” could be the first dopamine rush of falling head over heels, while “Rearview” might be like looking back once romance is dead and buried, watching it retreat in your rearview mirror. “Ghost White Dress” reminds us that that what’s dead does not always stay that way, as TYSM evokes a vengeful specter, bent on taking you with her.

TYSM - GHOST WHITE DRESS

TYSM’s ghost in not entirely murderous, however, with her signature sugary sweet vocals, gorgeously complemented by Felix Snow’s machine funk production. TYSM’s been exploring the areas between pop and experimentalism since the start. “Ghost White Dress” is the most successful blend of the two, so far, arriving just in time for Halloween, when the whole world will be getting down to spooky pop bangers.

For those of us who dance to the darkside year round, like some of us at We Are: The Guard, this is just business as usual. It’s perfect time for the rest of the world to discover TYSM and let her haunt your dreams.

J. Simpson occupies the intersection between criticism, creativity, and academia. Based out of Portland, Or., he is the author of Forestpunk, an online journal/brand studying the traces of horror, supernatural, and the occult through music, fashion and culture. He plays in the dreamfolk band Meta-Pinnacle with his partner Lily H. Valentine, with whom he also co-founded Bitstar Productions, a visual arts collective focused on elevating Pop Culture to High Art.