Blackhaine, stage name of Tom Heyes, is a British artist from Preston, Lancashire working on the edge of dance and music. His practice is rooted in the nagging anxiety of Europe in the 2020s. Between fear of civilizational decline, ideological disenchantment and the convulsions from a bad trip on a late winter’s morning, his performances seem to embrace all the violence that runs through the margins of the ‘English darkness’ evoked by writer Stephen Barber. Musically, his influences lie somewhere between noise, drill and ambient, punk and hardcore. Both confrontational and intimate, Heyes explores the limits of macho rap, street poetry, experimental dance and what it means to be a working-class artist.  With his convulsive movements, metal liturgy-inspired stage installation and guttural cries, his work aims to rest the mind through sensory saturation.

His previous EPs include And Salford Falls Apart and Armour. He has worked on projects for artists such as Playboi Carti and Kanye West, and has exhibited at the Venice Biennale, Turner Contemporary (Margate, UK) and the Tate (London, UK).