Asian Tones is back with the next show in the UNEARTHED series, brining some punk/electro/rap sounds from Hyphen.
Hyphen had an unusual start in music – he worked in finance. After losing a friend to suicide and being suicidal himself, he discovered music as a way to express himself. He is now a BBC Futuresounds artist, cosigned by Yungblud, Saweetie and was chosen by Spotify as one of their Radar artists in 2023.
Hyphen’s music is a deeply personal reflection on how doing what society tells us to do – work hard at school and get a stable job – led him to the darkest time in his life. Inspired by artists like IDLES, Slowthai and mixed in with a love of comedians like Bill Burr – Hyphen’s sound is upbeat, dance-y punk music with satirical lyrics like ‘What does Dave in the pub have in common with politicians in power? They absolutely love that Colombian Marching Powder.’ His Yungblud cosign was the result of a verse he wrote on his experience of racism and the lack of British Asian representation in music, a topic he is passionate about.
Hyphen’s openness in his music and content has led to him connecting with a growing audience online, with 72k followers on Tiktok, 26k on Instagram, 3 million streams on Spotify and 5 million likes on TikTok with numerous viral songs. Spotify’s feature on him as a Radar artist saw him on the cover of the largest UK Punk playlist.