blue fifty-nine: Tiiva

A genderless warrior runs through a digital landscape and flies through vast pink skies, collecting hearts that help them to realise their emotions. Elsewhere, an AI achieves sentience and heartbreak, falling through algorithms and hunting fragmented pieces of soul that will allow them to become human and find love in the outside world.

Volcanos, oceans, and aurora borealis manifest and scroll around our protagonists, as we zoom in and out of cut scenes in nightclubs, late night car rides and dusky forests.

Everywhere the spectre of trauma lurks like the darkness, but our heroes are brave. Their spirits swell with the sounds of synth bass. There is never a moment when they are not in ascent.

Tiiva is a producer and sound and game designer from the Lake District who makes exquisitely immersive pop music. Their new album, This Could Be A Start (released on cassette as blue fifty-nine), uses these imagined characters and fantastical world building as back story and motivation for a suite of moving and intricately detailed ambient pop vignettes.

Cut-up and re-pitched vocals yearn intensely over seismic spasms of sub while infinite sonic glitter swirls protectively around them. Gender identity, technology and the messy imperfectness of human relationships are abstractly reckoned with in a virtual open world. The vibe is always healing and uplifting, always.

“The story throughout the album is how we as humans navigate love, neurodivergence, AI interactions, and our desire to be everywhere all at once; in the mountains, in the city,” Tiiva says. “Each song represents an internal character - the optimist, the party kid, the recovering addict, the loner, the nostalgic. Some of the songs could read as romantic but in reality we are all looking for connection, and we find it in not always the most obvious places.”

This Could Be A Start is thematically and sonically deep, but most importantly, it is fun. It consists of eight perfect pop songs delivered in a precise and economical 26-minute runtime - each one of them a number one hit in heaven.

Lead single I Keep Falling In Love is protective, warm and futuristic. The title track is pure pop euphoria that is vibrating with excitement. I Tried To Let Go is like Lorde dissolving into pure texture and achieving a state of transhuman bliss.

Crush is a straight-up party banger that could have come from brat. In fact, This Could Be A Start feels like an inversion of that classic pop album; like if instead of cocaine and nightclubs Charli was getting off on dreams and strange, half-imagined computer games.

These sounds will instantly appeal to any fans of SOPHIE, AG Cook or FKA Twigs, but the collision of synthetic and nature-based approaches - including heavily manipulated field recordings of the wind, rivers and the natural reverb of caves in Tiiva’s native Lake District - gives their work an entirely unique, physics-defying feel.

This is pop music that feels like it could surround you and transport you to a safer, more beautiful place. You can also kiss to it.

Praise for Tiiva

“Tiiva is a truly singular voice.” - Clash

“The ultimate form of raw emotional pop catharsis.” - The Line of Best Fit

“Unique to the core.” - Diva

“Passionate and powerful.” - She Makes Music

“Immersive and captivating.” - When The Horn Blows

“Known for their fearless lyricism and boundary-breaking production, the Lake District-based artist-producer crafts glittering soundscapes where synthetic and organic collide.” - BabyStep

“A shimmering world of chopped vocals, dynamic basslines, and an energy made to ignite the dance floor.” - tmrw

“Tiiva lets synthetic and natural forces meet head-on, resulting in a thrilling, genre-blurring rush of hyperpop.” - glamglare

“Tiiva’s music is simply irresistible. Their unique blend of earnest storytelling and lush, soothing soundscapes draws you in and keeps you hooked.” - EQ Music

“Tiiva takes inspiration from Charli XCX, fka twigs, James Blake and other artists who choose to stray outside the lines in pursuit of their art. With an undeniable skill for courageous storytelling, through both their lyrics and sonic choices Tiiva continues to thrive as they push on with the construction of their multifaceted, abstract pop world.” - Prelude Press