Like all art forms, music can be a great vessel through which personal stories and experiences are shared in a universally accessible way. LOVE, the new album from industrial noise pop trio TAYNE, has a particularly interesting family history at its core, involving the band’s Irish frontman Matthew Sutton and his father Noel, also known as Dizzy Dyin4it.

Many GCN readers will already be familiar with Dizzy Dyin4it, a Dublin-based drag performer and DJ who is regularly found spinning the decks in Pennylane and PantiBar. However, the performer’s personal life as Noel is likely lesser known.

Throughout his childhood, Noel knew he was attracted to men, but it never felt like much of an issue.

“My sexuality wasn’t something that I concentrated a lot on,” he told GCN. “I did have relationships with men in my early days, but I met somebody who I fell in love with, it happened to be a woman who was a neighbour of mine. We were best friends and I loved the bones of this woman and I still do to this day.”

The pair got married and had four kids together, however, like many relationships, theirs eventually broke up. 

“Part of that was because of my sexuality,” Noel explained. ”But the relationship didn’t end just because I was coming out as gay.”

He and his ex-wife always wanted to be open and honest with their sons about the situation, and although “at times it wasn’t easy”, Noel said he “was very lucky” that his sexuality didn’t seem to faze his children. “As a matter of fact, they embraced it quite a lot.”

It’s this entire experience that inspires TAYNE’s new album.

“I guess the idea of it was viewing love as conflict and just exploring that,” Matthew said to GCN. 

“That’s how all the ties to my dad came into it. There’s a whole overarching story that is not just my story but his story, but I guess universal. It’s just taking the ideals of classical romantic love and showing a different side to it.”

Regarding the project’s sound, Matthew describes it as “chaos presented as pop music”. The loud, aggressive and noisy tracks juxtapose the album’s title, LOVE, reflecting how it is being reframed as conflict.

However, it’s important to note that Noel’s marriage break-up is not necessarily being portrayed as a negative thing. 

“I was already the weirdo for being different,” Matthew explained. “I think I was 11 when we had that conversation about my dad’s sexuality. I loved it because instantly I was like, I have a reason to be a weirdo, you know?”

He continued: “I just thought how cool was it that my dad was gay, and I loved being part of his story.” 

Within the album’s lyrics, Matthew tries to poke questions at the situation, rather than feed listeners one particular side of the story. In that way, he allows people to come to their own conclusions.

When asked what he would like audiences to take away from the album, he shared: “I think the whole reason why we started TAYNE was to try and make something that felt honest and authentic… As a creator, I can only ever comment on my own experiences and so it takes a lot to get into the headspace to write these songs.

“The reoccurring theme that it always comes back to is just allowing yourself to be honest and vulnerable and using that as a strength.”

Noel similarly stated, “One thing I love about this album is that it does come from a raw place of honesty, through turmoil, through all of that, but still, it’s all around love.”

Don’t miss TAYNE’s new album LOVE, releasing on January 31 via MNRK/Inside Job.