Tim Lyre is Making Real Music for the Soul

Tim Lyre shares heartfelt new neo-soul single ‘Real’

Multifaceted Lagos-based Afro-fusion act Tim Lyre shares his first release of 2021, titled ‘Real’. The intensely vulnerable record, situated somewhere between neo-soul and afro-futurism, is the first single off his upcoming debut album Worry.

In ‘Real’, the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer spares no use of his poetry skills as he puts pen to rhythm and carries through a slow but intentional use of distinct instruments to achieve a dynamic bop with a soulful backdrop in the tune.

In his own words, “Real is a song about the emotional nuances between two people in a relationship or situation-ship as it were. It’s an attempt to say all the things typically left unsaid.”

Building a growing fanbase in Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa, Tim Lyre has been an integral part of the alté renaissance and has consistently churned out top tier alternative Afro-influenced music, including the Senpai EP that featured MOJO, PrettyboyDO & AYLØ, which was recently featured in Tems’ Africa Month playlist on Apple Music. Tim has racked up over a million streams across digital platforms, having worked with the likes of Fasina, July Drama, and Minz.

Tim’s highly anticipated debut album Worry < sees the budding Lagos artist flex his musicality across neo-soul, Afrobeats, downtempo, and trip-hop in an incredible new direction for afro-fusion music. The project was mixed by Sam Harper (Wizkid – MIL), mastered by Grammy-nominated Frank Merritt at The Carvery Studios in London (Fela & Seun Kuti), and will be released under London-Johannesburg based label Outer South.

This is the rebirth of cool, with Lagos as the cosmic epicenter and Tim its principal cosmonaut.

TIM LYRE in his element

The Afro-fusion artiste is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. Tim’s music is a genre-bending exploration of the human experience from an afro-futurist perspective, inspired as much by the likes of juju legend Ebenezer Obey and R&B polymath, John Legend. An integral part of Nigeria’s alté renaissance, Tim weaves outernational poetry through word and sound, set to a buzzing, psychedelic Lagos backdrop, alongside the likes of PrettyboyDO, MOJO, and AYLØ.

Born and raised in Lagos into a musically inclined family with roots in the church, Tim studied classical music from the age of 10, learning how to read music and play the piano. As the years passed, he began to discover and explore other genres of music such as Highlife, Afrobeats, Jazz, R&B, Neo-Soul, Gospel, Hip-Hop, and Reggae on the way to discovering his genre-bending style.

A patient perfectionist, Tim began producing and recording in 2012, only to drop his debut single ‘Mornings’ four years later in 2016. He followed that with Circa 94, an EP that displayed versatility which made Tim an instant underground favorite in the Nigerian alternative – ‘alte ́’ – scene.

In 2019, he returned to Nigeria having completed and bagged his LLB degree in England and joined Lagos collective Chop Life Crew, alongside MOJO, Ronehi, Tena Tenpo, L.K, Cubix, Masiano, and Code 6, dropping a slew of releases including his critically acclaimed EP Senpai which included PrettyboyDO and AYLØ, and hit singles ‘Fakogbe’ and ‘Hurricane’ with MOJO.

Tim then connected with Nigerian singer-rapper Fasina for joint EP 3 Strains, including standout hits ‘Just Linked’ featuring MOJO and L.K and ‘Different Strain’ featuring Minz.

In Nov 2020, Tim dropped a 5 track EP—K.A.P – or Keep Applying Pressure, taking in dancehall, afro-fusion, and alté, featuring Shalom Dubas and Mafeni.

In 2021, Tim will release his hotly anticipated debut album Worry with the record label Outer South. With a mission to expand the scope of Afro-fusion beyond what it currently is, Tim Lyre continues to smoothly interpolate different styles and genres of music into each other.

LISTEN TO REAL HERE.

Arshavin Ephraim

Host of #RealTalk show on Twitter. I am passionate about talent and creativity. Arshavin is a writer who doubles as a mental health advocate and part-time relationship counselor.

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