PBG 3 Question Interview with Jana Tyrrell "L.E.O" Single
- Produced by a Girl™
- Jul 1
- 3 min read
Hey music lovers, Produced by a Girl here, and I’m thrilled to introduce you to Jana Tyrrell, a London-based producer, dancer, and multi-instrumentalist who’s crafting some of the most immersive hypnagogic pop out there. Jana’s sound floats between alt-pop, electronic, industrial, and astro-wave, all shaped by her roots in classical piano, dance, and fearless DAW experimentation. You can really feel the influence of her work with vaporwave duo Donor Lens in the way she layers synths, guitars, samples, and those haunting vocal textures. Her latest release, “L.E.O,” is like stepping into a dream: spacey, blurred, and totally captivating. It’s a sneak peek into her upcoming album, Was It Real or Is It Just Me?, which draws inspiration from icons like Depeche Mode, Portishead, UK underground electronica, Björk, and modern J-pop, all filtered through Jana’s unique sense for dissonant beauty and emotionally charged soundscapes.
1. “Was it Real or is it Just Me?” really taps into that surreal, modern day uncertainty where reality feels ever changing and memories blur at the edges. What inspired you to channel all that digital anxiety into such a vivid, tactile soundscape?
I think my natural inclination towards warped, layered textures lends itself well to that state of uncertainty. Also with the lack of control I think we all now feel around our digital lives: data leaks, people pilfering your work and passing it off as their own, catfishing, unsolicited use of your image etc etc, it's just ripe for dissecting. There is so much more to explore in such a multi-pronged subject as 'reality', and the general notion of it in 2026. I just tried to reflect some of that within a fairly maximalist soundscape.
2. Your use of self referential samples, gritty industrial synths, and those gorgeous, layered vocal harmonies creates a sound that feels intimate, even as it pushes into experimental territory. How do you sense when a production choice is deepening the emotional core of a song, instead of just taking it further into the abstract?
I think perhaps I lean on the vocals to communicate the emotional core of what I'm attempting to convey, I'm personally very moved by particular chord changes and sounds, so I try to connect with my audience by using my voice as a synth or pad, not solely as a lead. It's definitely a challenge to reel in the experimental nature though!
3. So wow, tell us girls about that experience please. You were called an AI artist while crafting a song all about perception, reality, and doubt! Did that surreal moment shift how you see your own identity as an artist right now?
Well, the AI accusation was on my video for a track called 'Skeletal'. I had spent days rehearsing with dancers, a choreographer and crafted the entire vision. It came together so well and looked so slick, that actually I'm not surprised people thought it was AI (props to the everyone involved in the video), though it's a pretty sad state of affairs when an audience don't have the visual discernment to understand what is real and what isn't. I don't think it's shifted my self-identity as an artist, it honestly just makes me want to push creative boundaries as far as I can.
4. Bonus Question: What does Produced by a Girl mean to you personally as a female artist and producer?
It means a huge amount to me, for so many reasons. There's ridiculously few women in music production specifically, and PBG does a really important job of highlighting some of us! I've come across some wildly, outlandishly, talented female producers and musicians in my time, and I want younger women and girls in particular to know that technical and compositional roles in music are absolutely open to them! There are of course still hurdles; it has taken me a long time to really have the confidence to complete my album, but knowing that platforms such as PBG are there to support us is utterly invaluable.
Connect with Jana Tyrrell
Written By: Chief Editor PBG Press, Mary Knoblock
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