When Tyne-James Organ released his debut album Necessary Evil in 2021, it marked a defining chapter in the young singer-songwriter’s life. But where his debut showed who he was, The Other Side (out today, May 16th), shows what he’s about: growth and self-acceptance while navigating the grey areas of love, grief, identity and purpose.
“I found the introduction to this record so daunting,” Organ confesses. “For six months, I couldn’t write anything that felt real. Everything sounded inauthentic.” It wasn’t until he spent a week writing with longtime collaborator and friend, Chris Collins, that the creative floodgates opened. “We wrote five songs that week. Two of them — ‘Worth My Time’ and ‘Blue’ — made the album,” Organ says. “They were so personal and real, they jump-started everything.”
There’s no mistaking the emotional weight carried throughout The Other Side, from the soaring melancholy of its title track to the vulnerability embedded in songs like “All on Me” and “Love Me Back”. These are more than mere tunes – they’re therapy sessions, turned into melodies. Organ speaks about the writing process as both cathartic and essential. “Sometimes the only way I can get out what I’m trying to say is through singing it,” he explains. “The more I kept writing, the more of me kept falling out.”
Organ doesn’t shy away from tough subjects. Whether it’s grief, mental health, the unsteady nature of self-belief, or the dizzying highs and lows of creative life, each lyric on The Other Side feels painstakingly honest. “It’s not that I sit down thinking, ‘I’m going to write about this trauma or that challenge,'” he says. “It just comes out. I try to write things other people can relate to, but I think sometimes I’m too honest… it’s just my story.”
The emotional nucleus of the record is “All on Me”, a deeply intimate tribute to his mother, giving voice to her experience of losing both Organ’s father, and, more recently, his grandmother. “My mum is my best friend. I didn’t need to ask for permission to tell her story, because we’re that close. She just knew,” he says. Yet the most emotional moment came not from showing the song to his mum, but his nan herself. “She was alive when I played it for her,” he recalls. “There’s a line in there that speaks about her in the past tense, which is weird to show someone. But we all just cried and hugged. We didn’t need words.”
Organ’s father, the Wollongong-based singer and entertainer Rikki Organ, passed away in 2016. That loss has echoed through both of Organ’s records, but it feels especially present on The Other Side. While Necessary Evil grappled more with shock and immediate grief, Organ’s latest reflects a more nuanced processing of absence. “I’m not overly spiritual, but I like to think he lives completely within this record. He’s the reason I do music,” he says.
His father’s spirit looms large over the album, particularly on tracks like “Blue” — but it’s also in the kinetic way Organ moves on stage. “People think I’m trying to move like Mick Jagger,” he laughs. “But really, it’s my dad. He was an entertainer. I watched him growing up. I mimic him. I carry him with me every time I perform.”
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That lineage of performance and expression finds new ground in The Other Side‘s title track, which features Gordi in a beautifully poignant duet. Born in a rainy, low-lit cabin and shaped over long months, the track captures Organ at his most exposed. “We hit a wall with the track, and I didn’t know how to move forward. Chris [Collins] and I thought, ‘What if someone else comes in?’ Gordi was the first name we thought of,” Organ reveals.
She recorded her verse and harmonies remotely from the US and sent them back. The result? “It broke my heart in a beautiful way,” Organ says of the title track. “It felt like two separate stories that synced in this really special way. That song is so vulnerable, I’ve decided I’ll perform it alone with just an acoustic guitar on tour. That feels right.”
Even the album’s more upbeat moments retain emotional gravity. “Love Me Back” may sound like a romantic dilemma, but it doubles as a confession to the music industry. “I worry about how much I give to this career, and whether it ‘loves’ me back,” Organ confesses. “I tried to write it as a universal experience, but really it’s my love letter to the industry – and all the doubts that come with it.”
Organ’s journey with mental health has also shaped the soul – and timing – of this record. In a candid Instagram post last September, he revealed his diagnosis with bipolar disorder, writing, “It’s been a challenging journey, and I’ve needed to take this time away to focus on my mental health and wellbeing.” He shared how that period prompted him to put the album – and all music-related activity – on hold. “I’m still navigating this process, but I’m hopeful and working towards getting back to the things I love when the time is right.”
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While Organ didn’t directly speak on the diagnosis in our conversation, the emotional undertow of The Other Side makes it clear: this is an album born of reckoning.
Other tracks dive into his own complexities with humour and heart. “Sunny Side Up”, for instance, explores Organ’s ADHD with a tongue-in-cheek candour. “I’m chaotic, man. My partner gets the brunt of it. That song is about me being a lot – too much sometimes – but it’s just who I am… Honestly, sometimes I feel like a cross between Jim Carrey and a sad indie poet,” he laughs. “One second I’m doing impersonations, the next I’m crying writing a song. It’s just how my brain works.”
Working with Matt Corby was a dream-turned-reality for Organ during the making of this album. “I had no prep, no heads-up. Chris just told me that morning that Matt was coming to the studio. I freaked out,” he laughs. “But Matt was so grounded and chill, he gave me a hug, and suddenly I felt calm. Then he jumped on the bass and helped us shape the track. Now he’s on my album. That still blows my mind.”
Their relationship also extends beyond the studio – something which would have been incomprehensible to a teenage Organ. “He’s someone I used to listen to on repeat while working in a surf shop,” Organ says. “Now he’s coming up to say hello to me when we bump into each other at airports. That kind of full-circle moment? You don’t take it for granted.”
As The Other Side hits streaming platforms and record stores, Organ is gearing up to take the album on the road. He speaks with both excitement and a touch of trepidation about the tour. “I’m really pumped to play ‘Worth My Time’ and ‘One Way Ticket’,” he says. “They’re different rhythms for me, and I want to see how the crowd moves.”
But it’s that solitary performance of “The Other Side” that has his heart racing. “It’ll be the only time in the set I’m truly alone. It’s scary. There’s nowhere to hide in that moment,” he admits. “When it’s just me and a guitar, it’s the closest thing to the version of me that wrote the song. It’s terrifying – but it’s also when I feel the most human.”
After years of pouring himself into his music, it feels like The Other Side is not just an album, but an arrival at a new point of understanding. It’s Tyne-James Organ at his most evolved – and perhaps most himself.
“Every song I wrote for this record came from something real I’d been holding onto,” Organ says. “Old grievances, things I hadn’t processed – writing them helped me let go. There were a lot of songs that didn’t make the cut, but even those were part of healing.”
