DALLIANCE RECORDINGS, the boutique label that’s already garnered the loveliness of Gia Margaret and Common Holly to its hearthside, has hit a triple score on singer-songwriters by adding Welsh border country talent Ailsa Tully to its roster.
Ailsa’s been plying her line in confessional pop a little while now – you may have been lucky enough to have caught her in the shadow of the Sugar Loaf at Green Man 2019, back when such carefree musical bacchanalia was an everyday occurrence (sigh!). She’s dropped her first single for her new imprint, the sweet caress of “Drive”. It comes accompanied by a video, a Radio On-style road trip, Ailsa heading outta London and west on the M4, crossing the Severn on the old bridge; arriving home. Have a watch below.
A member of her church choir, she recalls walking through the Welsh countryside and hearing voices reverberate beyond the church walls as she made her way to join the chorus. She’s enthralled by her nation’s cultural history, and her musical aesthetic is one in which folk meets choral music meets field recordings; beguiling.
“Drive”, as you can hear, is like a sweeter Breeders. Unusually, Ailsa’s chosen instrument has four-strings, rather than six; her bass chordal work even carries a little of The Pale Saints and others, coming threaded with the confessional heartfelt tunesmithery of Rozi Plain and This is the Kit.
She says: “’Drive’ is about searching to free yourself from the mundanity of everyday life.
“It was inspired by a time when my brain was festering in a boring job. I needed an escape.”
Ailsa will follow “Drive” with another single early in the new year.
Follow Ailsa on Facebook and Instagram.
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