dye and the alchemy of anxiety

Inspired by the visceral and diverse sounds of his favourite alternative musicians - pioneers like Kurt Cobain, Trent Reznor and Robert Smith – the 26-year-old songwriter L.A based musician finds intense personal catharsis creating his eclectic brand of alt-rock under the moniker of dye.

As a painfully shy adolescent who was bullied during his school years, Ye has struggled with feelings of isolation and otherness. The songs he creates as dye serve to cauterise these wounds, acting as emotional exorcisms that allow him to make sense of his experiences and build his confidence as a songwriter. With such a potent and self assured sound - mixing swirling shoegaze riffs, with the loud-to-quiet dynamics of grunge and the ethereal melodies of dream pop - it’s surprising to hear that the musician never originally harboured any ambition to be a songwriter or a vocalist at all.

It wasn’t until the pandemic in 2020, that Ye had his self-confessed “‘oh shit, what the fuck am I gonna do?’” moment. He was already confident in his abilities as a guitarist - having studied guitar playing on a pop-centric music programme at the University of Southern California - but the subsequent lockdowns afforded him the time to focus on writing songs and singing for the first time. Ye describes the initial material he wrote as “terrible”, but he persevered until he found something that “clicked”. This experimentation has now manifested into a string of single releases for the artist and his packed debut headline show at L.A venue Genghis Cohen in July earlier this year.

It was Ye’s initial fascination with ‘90s grunge icons like Nirvana, however, and hearing the sound of Kurt Cobain’s gravelly vocals, that initially planted the seeds of creativity in a teenage Ye. Now aged 26, the musician still speaks about hearing “Smells Like Teen Spirit” for the first time with a palpable sense of exhilaration. “I remember hearing it on the radio in my Dad’s car on the way to school and being fucking blown away by it,” he enthuses. “Up until that point, I never had any piece of music really strike me like that. I remember deep diving into the Nevermind record that day, discovering “Lithium”, “Come As You Are”, “In Bloom” and “On A Plain”. It was a really transformative moment for me.”

Enamoured with Cobain’s sound and aesthetic - especially in the now iconic accompanying video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” - Ye asked his parents for a guitar and an amplifier and taught himself how to play power chords through YouTube tutorials. “I guess it was kind of therapeutic in a way, hearing Nevermind,” Ye reflects further. “I felt a real connection to that music. It became like a safe haven for me, I guess. It’s kind of cliche to say it, but you definitely feel less alone, knowing that your heroes are kind of social pariahs.”

As self-confessed introvert, Ye has understandably taken a little while to warm up to our conversation, but his passion for Nirvana and the affinity he feels with the vulnerability of the band’s frontman is a catalyst for him to deconstruct his introspective thoughts. Identifying with Cobain’s emotional sensitivity and the incandescent rage that simmers beneath many of Nirvana’s most revered songs gave him the courage to find his own voice as dye. Ye also cites Trent Reznor, the multi-instrumentalist behind industrial-electronic project Nine Inch Nails, as an influence on his sound.

“I think that being introverted, I kind of need an outlet to let all of my rage out, I guess. It’s not something you really think about, but I guess that’s how it worked out. To me, it’s not rocket science. If you’re silenced in your youth, you can’t really let anything out, you don’t have anyone to talk to, you just naturally end up being this kid with a bunch of things to say. Finding an outlet in rock music is the most cathartic thing ever. Something about Kurt and Trent’s music just really speaks to me on a deeper level.”

Armed with his guitar and a new desire to express himself through writing original music, Ye was able to vent these pent up frustrations as dye, whilst simultaneously paying tribute to his influences. He describes his single “taKe” - a grungy rumination on his continual struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) - as his “Nirvana-inspired” song. “OCD consumes every aspect of my life. It’s such a time waster, you know. It drains you,” he shares. ““taKe” was kind of a way to get those emotions out. The chorus speaks for itself, it’s this emotional bloodletting. I don’t really scream like that, but I think I did a decent job. By no means can I scream like Cobain or anything. He has this insane rasp and growl. I was just like ‘I’m kinda pissed off, I’m just gonna do this’. It’s a very liberating thing.”

Whilst there is a recurring undercurrent of guttural angst in all of his offerings as dye, Ye is able to shift the intensity of this with a skilful change in melody or volume. He describes “dirt” as his “love letter to The Cure”, with its propulsive beats and atmospheric riffs reminiscent of tracks like “A Forest”. Ye also embraces a softer sound on recent single “feeL”, on which he reflects that he was “deathly afraid of life” as a teenager. It’s a gentle reminder to forgive his younger self. “There’s still a lot of pain that’s in that track, but it’s a lot prettier and a lot more melodic, kind of like an Oasis or a Beatles song,” he comments. “I’m a huge Oasis, Beatles and Radiohead fan. I fucking love that UK pop sensibility. So “feeL” is kind of my take on that 90s UK rock scene.”

Despite having such an eclectic mix of genres influencing his sound, the most potent guiding force for Ye’s songwriting is ultimately his desire to pacify painful or overwhelming emotions. “I just kind of write what I feel like, and a lot of the time I feel like shit, so it translates that way. I don’t really have a singular formula. Honestly, if there’s one day when I wake up and I’m genuinely not upset anymore, I’ll start writing happier sounding songs.” That last sentiment elicits a dry laugh.

At its core, dye is Ye’s attempt to be explicitly honest, and that extends to the project’s name. “There's no deep meaning behind it,” he explains, “I guess it can be interpreted as a double entendre. But no, it’s just my initials and I’m glad it looks cool.” As someone who has often felt left out and excluded from life, dye is Ye’s space to figure out how to ease the ache of these apprehensions. He already has a full album’s worth of material that’s ready to be refined and shared at some point in the near future. Ye is looking forward to the “milestone” moment of having an LP out in the world.

For now though, the songwriter is content with all of his creative output, whether it reaches the ears of others, or simply stays with him. “I’m not really an artist that’s really vocal about keeping positive. I just like to write from the heart. I don’t really write from the perspective of ‘oh is this gonna do well’ or anything. These songs - if they catch on, they catch on. If they don’t, that’s fine. I love these songs. I write them out of necessity. If I don’t have a musical outlet, then I’m just kind of fucked, because I don’t know how to do anything else really. People can see right through the bullshit. Just write for yourself and be authentic. I’m still an unknown artist, so if anyone stumbles across this, or to anyone that gives a shit at this very moment, that’s what I have to say.”