“It’s actually my favourite festival,” TSHA tells me. The two of us are sitting on a bench in the backstage area of the main stage of Lost Village, the subject of the DJ and producer’s compliment. We speak through heightened tones, attempting to hear each other over Porij’s coruscating set that hypnotises the Saturday afternoon crowd a stone’s throw away.
My companion is “good” but “tired,” with her previous evening filled with accomplishment. Friday saw TSHA take on an enviable primetime slot at the festival’s notorious Airbase stage, tucked away in the midst of the forest with a sprawling stage design that resembles a plane crash. I was there myself, surrounded by overexcited punters drowsed in early festival mania, taking in the escapist and endearing envelope of sound that TSHA unleashed amongst the trees. Later on in the evening, she surprised the village with a mouthwatering b2b, joining SG Lewis at the Junkyard stage for a secret set. These hidden Easter egg performances are a staple of the Lost Village experience, with the peerless SBTRKT amongst those blessing fans with an additional unadvertised set across the weekend, as well as, of course, Saturday night’s worst kept ‘secret’ headliner, Bicep.
Attending Lost Village for an inaugural visit, by the time I sit down with TSHA it’s easy for me to see why it’s her favourite festival. Its name sums up its tone seamlessly; immersed within a mini community for four nights, you become at one with the natural surroundings, directed by pulsating bass drums and an unfathomable kinetic energy. Although, quite literally, in the middle of fucking nowhere, smidgens of society remain to see the more contemporary amongst us through the weekend. The food is sensational, whether the multitude of food trucks scattered around the site or the pop up marquee’d Metropolitan restaurants such as Soho’s Indian establishment Kricket and Hackney’s artisan bakery, Pophams.
Intricacy aplenty within the festival layout, there’s an arcade, a pawn shop, a bookies and a record store. Famed as a day festival as much as a night, there’s workshops (I carved some wood), comedy and educational panels. And that playground of hedonism is without even touching on the music itself; this year sees as eclectic and electrifying an entourage as ever. There’s the glitch-laden experimental pop of Yaeji, the euphoria of The Blessed Madonna and the sing-along psych rock of Lava La Rue. And, amongst scores of others, the UV light show-backed brilliance of Floating Points, the scintillating skill and charisma of instrumental outfit Glass Beams, and the emotive and encompassing effervescence of personal favourites Mount Kimbie.
TSHA truly belongs alongside this catalogue of distinguished names. Her anthemic, joyous and daring productions have evolved and matured across her increasingly revered artistic tenure. In 2022, the London-to-Ibiza creative shared her debut album, Capricorn Sun, to rousing critical reaction. On 27th September, via esteemed label Ninja Tune, TSHA is set to share a follow up full-length sonic statement, Sad Girl, one that explores a far wider array of her facets—whether that be the additional of her own vocals and lyrics on several tracks, or the diversity of genre, timbre and emotion across the œuvre. Enlisting a motley and celebrated support cast that includes Rose Gray and Master Peace, the latter of which appears on the record’s latest ear-worm teaser, “Can’t Dance”, the album is set to rise TSHA’s stock ever higher as a leading prong of British dance music.
As a staple of Lost Village and one of the most hotly-tipped producers around, I cherished the opportunity to take a sidebar with TSHA, chatting about her love for the festival, why she’s relocating to Ibiza full time, and what her soon-to-be released sophomore LP means to her.
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How are you?
Good, tired. I had two sets last night.
I saw the set at Airbase, where was the second one?
I did a surprise b2b with SG [Lewis] at Junkyard. It was fun.
How are you finding the Lost Village experience?
Great. It’s always great here, the crowd is the best. This is like my fourth time playing here. They have the best food which is a plus, and just general great vibes. The programming is amazing too, all the cool ones.
What other sets have you played this summer that have stood out?
I’ve been in Ibiza a lot, I’m living there, so I’ve done a lot of the clubs out there. I played in the US a few times. All Points East, Junction2 were really good too.
Why did you choose to live in Ibiza?
It’s like my favourite island, my favourite place to be. It’s so beautiful nature wise and has an amazing energy. It’s kind of hard to describe, but when I land there I feel like I’m home. And then obviously it helps that I have DJ sets there, it’s convenient. I think I’m going to end up doing like 21 shows in Ibiza so it made sense to be there, but I’m going to make it my permanent home because I just love the energy.
What is it about the dance music scene’s heritage in Ibiza that draws you to it?
It’s obviously been a Mecca for dance music for a long time, and lots of sounds have exploded out of Ibiza’s history. For me, outside of the club culture, the island’s always been a place that people visit to experience a level of freedom. It was somewhere that people used to go to from the mainland in Spain who were political who spoke out or artists that were a bit controversial ended up there. So it’s got a history of being a place where people escape to, which draws me in. I love seeing people coming on holiday, saving up all year to come there. I love seeing how happy people are, enjoying themselves, and I love being a part of that experience. They forget about their lives and work and whatever is going on at home, and just in that moment they’re having the best time. The fact that I’m part of that story just makes me happy.
Your music certainly reflects that escapism. How would you describe the essence of your production style?
I’m quite melody driven so a lot of my stuff relies heavily on that. Production wise, I’ve obviously done so many different styles. This new album, for instance, the style is much different to the last album. And I’m singing on a few songs in the new album, which I’ve never done before. But it’s always changing, I don’t really like to box myself into a certain style of production.
Your sample picking and choice of sounds is so strong, what is your process in terms of that?
I don’t really know to be honest. A lot of the music is written as synth based or a VST or something like that. I just collect stuff. A lot of producers tell me they love my drums but to me there’s nothing special about them, they are just regular drums that I’ve come across like everyone else. I’m not really sure why people like them so much [laughs].
