Words & Images by Joseph Murphy

Steeped in postpunk attitudes, the electronic group Mystery Tiime took to the stage at The George Tavern. Blending XTC’s weight with modern D'n'B twists, the group’s sound is led by Ayman Rostom, producer, frontman and self-proclaimed “studio head”, jumping into some of their first live performances.

With the project growing from his own early 80’s post-punk, transformed by his parallel life in house and techno DJ-ing, Ayman wanted to build a different live feel for the group, calling on Essex-based saxophonist and fellow producer Lychee Foster, alongside Luca Ryland, bringing in a switch-up with live drums.

“When we were making the transition of preparing the live sound”, said Ayman, “we tried out a combination of the programmed sounds and just slowly began to work it out. It just became a fully humanised concept.”

Dark and full of fuzzing bass and pushing drum beats, the group have a certain power, one that held the room. As a frontman, Ayman continued to build up a bassline throughout, with saxophonist Foster building around the image in-between the beats.

“We brought in Foster to really put a frame around the picture”, said Ayman, “just to have the feel of live musicians really brings in another element.”

The transition from a studio project to a performance comes in Ayman’s chunky basslines, amidst frameworks of electronic rhythms. It gives off a hypnotic and slightly mechanical pulse, whilst still retaining the human element. I’d call the group’s sound something close to a DIY-minimal wave concept, with dry-Fi elements weaved in, but that excess D'n'B sound still pierces through.

The group’s sound is heavily dub inspired, with space being one of the core components. Modernity often requires a cacophony to maintain the audience, but the group merely uses the air to highlight the important moments. With the lyrical content tackling heaviness like death, addiction and grief, there exists a purposeful dryness in the vocal lines, exhibiting the melancholy of current times. The choice to exhibition a live sound is one that brings in a closeness to that human element, that there’s a pushback of warmth, against that content, Mystery Tiime bring a counterweight to the standard  bleakly loud electronic sounds of today.