Animals by TC TENET Enters the 90s Rock Conversation
The London Artist Takes a Breakaway EP Track Into a No-Overdubs Live Session
Four singles, one EP and now a live session: that is the TC TENET catalogue in one line, and Animals is where it changes gear. The London-based artist first released the song on his 2024 EP Breakaway. Then he cut it again live with a full band at Arcus Sounds in East London, for a video released on 26 May 2025.
TC TENET’s track is in the playlist below, with Animals in the running order, and the coverage to date sits on the TC TENET artist profile. The song reached this desk through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news desks. Press play on it, then read on for where it sits in the catalogue.
Four Singles and an EP Before the Live Session
The run started with standalone singles. Get Away, Catch Me If I Fall, Mrs Stone and Dr Universe arrived across 2022 and 2023, each built on distorted guitars and a 90s alternative rock frame. Breakaway followed on 23 October 2024 as a five-track EP: Take It All, The Guru, Breakaway, Animals and Let It Shine.
Meanwhile, the singles built a press base first. Dr Universe, released in November 2023, drew coverage from Mesmerized, Existential Magazine and Plastic Magazine, among others. On Breakaway, the range runs from Animals at three minutes and 40 seconds to Let It Shine at five minutes and 16 seconds. In other words, Animals is the shortest and most direct statement on the EP, which makes it the natural choice for a live room.
Born and raised in São Paulo, TC TENET is now based in London. He writes, produces and records his own music, and TC is a childhood nickname that stuck. The EP drew support from Vents Magazine, Backseat Mafia, Mystic Sons and Return of Rock.
What Changed When Animals by TC TENET Went From the Breakaway EP to an East London Live Room
The change is the room. The studio version sits on Breakaway, while the live session puts four players in Arcus Sounds Studio in East London in spring 2025, with no overdubs. TC TENET takes guitar and vocals. David Needle plays guitar and sings backing vocals, Jeremi Szczepkowski plays bass and Alex Colombo plays drums.
The credits are also specific. James Little shot and edited the video, Ruben Angress engineered the sound and Adam Bonser mixed it. The session runs three minutes and 54 seconds, 14 seconds longer than the EP version. That extra time goes to the band rather than to polish.
What the session adds is weight. Illustrate Magazine pointed to the rolling drumbeat that opens the track and the distorted guitars that build into a full wall of sound. Meanwhile, Musikepool heard the honesty of a take with no studio fixes. It also put the lyric about people acting like animals, following trends and losing themselves online, at the centre of the performance.
RockCharts.News’s curator team: “Animals holds up better live than most EP tracks would. The band add 14 seconds and lose none of the tension, which says the song was built to be played, not assembled.”
The Through-Line in the TC TENET Catalogue, From a Backyard Shed to Animals Live in London
The through-line across the catalogue is a 90s alternative rock frame. Distorted guitars, a punchy backbeat and atmospheric synths sit behind lyrics about social emptiness, climate anxiety, injustice and personal struggle. As a rule, the songs start small, written in a backyard shed, and end up as band performances.
That path has a famous precedent. Foo Fighters began as one songwriter recording alone before Dave Grohl built a band around the songs. Similarly, TC TENET’s material travels the same road, from a shed to a four-piece in a London studio. Pearl Jam are the other reference point, for a singer-songwriter’s intensity carried by a band that plays it loud.
The press run around the session has been steady. Edgar Allan Poets announced the video, Good Music Radar reviewed it, and Lost in the Manor placed it in a rock picks roundup. For listeners who want 90s rock energy from an artist working now, the live Animals is the place to start. Stream the Breakaway version on Spotify next.
Follow TC TENET across platforms: Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, YouTube channel, Instagram, Facebook, X and the official site.
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