Tasmin Stephens has a knack for making the messy bits of life sound like something you can cling to. As TTSSFU, she broke through with the DIY brilliance of Me, Jed and Andy an EP stitched together in her bedroom, woven with Warhol-inspired imagery and raw diary entries dressed up in distortion. That release showed a songwriter already confident in her own imperfections, turning bruised relationships and failed flings into jagged, unforgettable songs.
Now 21, Stephens is back with Blown. It’s a louder, scruffier, and more upfront EP. This time she’s got her live band in tow and the added grit of Chris Ryan behind the mix. She’s just signed to the same label as Fontaines D.C. and Cameron Winter, but there’s no danger of her being swallowed up by any London machine. She still feels Wigan through and through, still scatty, still willing to stain her white dress with mud for a video shoot.
This is a record about being let down, getting obliterated on weekends, and pulling yourself together with your mates the next day. Or not pulling yourself together at all. That’s part of its charm.
The tone is set from the very first seconds of ‘Cat Piss Junkie’. Channelling The Clash for the bass riff it’s two minutes of scuffed guitars and snarled vocals that sound like they were left to rot in an alley overnight. The title nods to Ariel Pink’s knack for gnarly wordplay, but the song belongs completely to her. It’s a piss-take, a release, a dare. By the time it collapses, you’re grinning and already hooked.
‘Forever’ stretches out in comparison, riding a restless guitar line that refuses to settle. Stephens sings like she’s pacing the room, rehearsing an argument she’ll never actually win. The reverb blurs her words just enough that you’re left leaning in, straining to catch the sting. It’s a track that makes you feel sixteen again, caught between rage and euphoria, throwing yourself at feelings too big for your body. Let’s not forget that chorus. It absolutely soars.
The mood sours further on ‘Sick’. The guitars screech like they’ve got a fever of their own, the bass pressing down like nausea in your stomach. Stephens’ voice drifts somewhere between mockery and collapse, asking for sympathy and spitting it out in the same breath. The dark and sombre mood brings to mind early Breeders or Pixies, certainly in the bassline.
‘Everything’ is exhale that follows. The pace is measured, vocals finding there way along a bobbing guitar riff. Even when the fuzzy chorus comes in none of the tenderness is lost. There’s a sweetness under the haze, like she’s letting you peek at something fragile without fully handing it over. The song feels fleeting, gone before you want it to be, which only adds to its pull. It’s a moment of calm inside the storm
By the time we hit ‘Call U Back’, we are completely with her. In the embers of a relationship that she’s not quite done with yet. It’s one of her sharpest hooks yet, and proof of why she’s being tipped as one to watch. This is undoubtedly a grungy indie track but the chorus would sit happily in an electro pop chart hit. This is a quiet stunner and I’d like to hear more if this from Stephens in the future for sure.
‘Weekend’ dips into that moment at the end of a night out. What happens once the lights come on and it’s time to leave. This could almost be a warped folk song. The chord changes are sublime and have you swaying side to side. There’s a looseness to the delivery, like the words are half remembered through the haze. You can feel the hangover creeping in even as the song keeps grinning. It’s messy, tender, and strangely comforting, like sharing chips on the curb before the taxi home.
Closer ‘Being Young’ pulls the curtain with a lot of questions and a sigh. There’s a melancholy in its bones, that quiet recognition that being twenty-one can feel both endless and already over. Stephens doesn’t offer solutions, only snapshots. Long bus rides home. Bad decisions replayed in your head. Friends who are no longer with us. Friends who stick around anyway. It’s messy, imperfect, and absolutely spot on.
Blown isn’t polished. It’s not supposed to be. It’s the sound of a young artist holding her nerve, making records that reflect the chaos of real life, and laughing at the mess while it’s still dripping down the walls. Stephens has said that “blown” is a Wigan expression for when things go wrong. The magic here is that she turns that feeling into something worth celebrating.
Blown EPis out now via Partisan Records. Follow the band on the TTSSFU Bandcamp page.
You can follow TTSSFU on social media here…
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