Today, enigmatic South London band Tiña have announced details of their much-anticipated debut album ‘Positive Mental Health Music’. Following their two standalone critically acclaimed singles ‘I Feel Fine’ and ‘Dip’, their new album will be the first ever LP to be released on tastemaker label Speedy Wunderground.

Alongside the album’s announcement the band have also shared a video for their new single ‘Rosalina’. Following an accident that left Loftin with a broken collarbone, the video sees Loftin in an understated, dream-like sequence surrounding donning his trademark pink cowboy hat and an arm/neck sling. Filmed during lockdown whilst maintaining social distancing measures, the rest of the band also appear sporadically via video chat.

Speaking about the video, Loftin says, “We ended up playing a virtual gig and shooting this video on the same night during lockdown – a couple of days after me breaking my collarbone! I think breaking it slowed me down a bit and helped me to tune into myself.”

To record ‘Positive Mental Health Music’, the band headed back into the homely ‘Speedy’ studio with producer Dan Carey in South London. Lead singer/songwriter Joshua Loftin explains that he used the songs to “work through a mental breakdown” and the 11 track LP provides an honest and intimate portrait into this process of self-examination, covering themes of anxiety, depression, love, sex, isolation, fear and failure. Yet, ‘Positive Mental Health Music’ is anything but a difficult listen: the tracks are hook-filled, dynamic and even danceable at times. Loftin’s cooing vocals, his lyrics poetic yet slightly self-mocking, sit atop a blend of psych-pop keys, drums and guitars.

“What caught my ear was the beauty of their chord changes” says Carey, who first saw Tiña at The Bunker Club, a small, sweaty basement venue in Deptford. He hoped to capture the experience of the band live, opting to record three songs in a row as continuous pieces with an intention “to capture the mind state we experience at a gig, the way time travels and how our senses are completely distorted”.

The LP was recorded on tape for the warmth that comes with analogue recording but also to give the process a sense of ceremony and gravity, “tape is limiting, and unlike with the computer when you wipe it, it’s really gone” – this Carey believed creates a “psychology of process whereby everything recorded becomes precious”. The idea of recording-as-ritual is in keeping with the band’s ethos; Loftin referred to live performance as “ceremonial… I feel like a Shaman, hence the bright colours” – referring to the pink, felt cowboy hat and velour cycling shorts he wears at every show.

‘Positive Mental Health Music’ is an emotional and tender record, a mood reflected in the recording process says Carey, “those days we had in the studio had a distinct tone to them”. He praised Loftin’s way with words “that can touch you so directly”.

On the milestone for Speedy Wunderground Carey says, “I’m so glad this is the first record on the label, I’m really proud of it.”

‘Positive Mental Health Music’ is due out 6th November via Speedy Wunderground