Tessa de Lyon (de-lee-on) is an alias of Tessa Dillon, the singer and songwriter behind indie-rock band Mystery Waitress who recently released their second album Bright Black Night through iconic New Zealand label Flying Nun (The Clean, The Chills, Reb Fountain, Fazerdaze).
Tessa’s first release under her own solo nom-de-plume on Home Alone records came about following Mystery Waitress progressing from a solo project to a full band. Wanting to have a place for her more introspective work, and having reconnected with playing the piano, she embarked on recording a series of songs which became this release, simply titled ‘Tessa’s Album’.
The artist name ‘Tessa de Lyon’ has its roots in her actual surname — literally meaning ‘from Lyon’ in France. Leaning into this idea, Tessa de Lyon is a flag waving, Joan of Arc-esque character for whom the music is a sword thrust into the past to destroy its haunting power.
‘Tessa’s Album’ is focused on the concept of fighting with this haunted past, but it does so in a brave and lighthearted manner which is almost childish in its attitude. Small moments of victory are celebrated as epic feats, putting a skirt on, putting a postcard up on the wall, finding the missing duck. Skipping alongside these moments is a cheerful banjo (played by Alexander ‘Honey’ Boulton). The album also features violin and vocals from one of Wellington’s best kept secrets and founder of Home Alone Music, Timothy Blackman.
Tessa de Lyon is in love with the smaller victories in life, appreciating the capacity to be appreciative, healing through recognition of what we’ve got right now.
Caressed in soft melodies, each song intimately addresses a portion of struggle; family members with mental health issues, ‘losing your mind’ and not being taken seriously, falling in love with someone with a long term-illness, and a song about a toxic friendship that took years to recover from. A strong believer in using art as a sort of therapy, Tessa de Lyon needed to transform these experiences into something less painful, something to learn from and not be ignored. They’re not pretty topics, but the music can be.