After spending the last few years developing her distinctive direction, Edinburgh-born artist Ailsa McEwan, known by her stage name Ailsa and the Seahorses, has now returned once again to deliver her breezy new single 'Awkward Social Situation'.
Lifted from her newly-released studio album 'Hermit', which is available to stream now, 'Awkward Social Situation' makes for a wonderfully warm and woozy listen. With her spellbinding vocals layered across a captivating indie-folk production throughout, she continues to shine as one of the more mesmerising names on the rise right now.
So with the new single available to stream now, we sat down with her to find out more about her origins and what has been inspiring her most lately.
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What was the first instrument you fell in love with?
The first instrument I learned to play was actually the violin when I was a child. But I would say the first instrument I really fell in love with was guitar when I was thirteen. All the music I listened to was guitar-based so it makes sense. My £20 guitar from Argos opened up a world of possibilities and led to me writing my first songs.
What kind of music did you love when you were younger?
Apparently it’s not cool to like them, but truth be told I was a diehard Oasis fan. I learnt to play guitar by learning the chords to Oasis songs and also modelled my early songwriting from them. As a teenager I later got into Modest Mouse as well as some random shoegaze and slowcore that I would find in corners of YouTube. I also liked some post-rock bands like Explosions in the Sky.
What was the first album you remember owning?
The honest answer to this question is Now That’s What I Call Music 47 which had classics from Ronan Keating and Britney Spears and the likes. I believe I was around six years old. I think it might still be kicking around my parents’ house somewhere. But I think the first album I bought may have been something by the Killers.
What is the one song you wished you could have written yourself?
I don’t really have one, but I do kind of wish I could write something as unhinged as Bob Dylan’s Idiot Wind. It’s basically the ultimate diss track; venomous (but to himself as much as anyone else), hilarious and sad. It’s like he captured the full range of emotions of a heartbreak in there with a beautiful almost psychotic delivery.
Do you have any habits or rituals you go through when trying to write new music?
Writing is a very intuitive thing and sometimes it feels like I’m just channeling things from elsewhere. I don’t do anything specific, just the time has to be right, and I have to go out and live and have experiences for the inspiration to be there. I find it can’t really be forced, but I do have a habit of torturing myself over lyrics for months which I don’t recommend. I think the trick is not to try and don’t overthink. Some of the best ideas have come to me on the toilet, because I walked away from the songwriting session. Recently I’ve been trying to tap into a more free, purely emotional way of writing, without judgement. A couple of times I felt like I did enter some kind of almost trance-like state of pure expression and I love the songs that came from that.
Who are your favourite artists you have found yourself listening to at the moment?
I am kind of stuck in the past - a bit of Frank Sinatra as well as going through a long Prince phase and I am always getting my fix of Fleetwood Mac. But I’ve also really enjoyed Andy Shauf’s stuff recently and a bit of Big Thief.
If you could open a show for anyone in the world, who would it be?
Maybe Johnny Marr. He was a guitar hero of mine when I was a teenager and I met him when I was 17. Seemed like a lovely guy and even gave me a shot of his guitar. I had a great chat with him about nail polish and books. I have a lot of respect for him and all he continues to do and his passion for the music! I would love to open for him one day.
What do you find is the most rewarding part about being a musician?
Probably just reaching people through music and knowing that it actually has the ability to help and heal. Music is powerful and connects people and it gives you a way to turn pain into something beautiful and positive. When it’s done authentically it has this magical healing power.
And what is the most frustrating part?
It feels like to succeed, it’s not so much about how great your music is, but rather if you are good at all the other things that come with it, like maintaining this weird online presence and marketing yourself the right way. I am good at writing songs but I am a terrible business woman and everything else, and I would rather not spend my time trying to make TikTok videos and suchlike. I’m not so much into posting content just for the sake of content and at some point it feels like everything becomes a bit meaningless. The internet is amazing in the sense that you can so easily get your music out there now, but it’s a double-edged sword - it’s crazily oversaturated making things pretty challenging.
And what is the best piece of advice you have received as a musician?
Stop giving a fuck. When it comes to music, try and do more things from a genuine place, because you want to, and not because you think it’s what you’re supposed to be doing. The more authentic you become in what you do, the more your music will truly resonate with people. And I think once you take the pressure off, things have a way of just working out better in general. In my case having another job and source of income helped a lot. Also I think not limiting myself to being this one thing in life has also been good for me. I had to fall back in love with music because all the enjoyment had been sucked out of it because I was trying to be a professional musician and doing all the things you are expected to do, but some of it felt forced, fake and not reflective of what was in my heart. At some point I stopped to ask myself why I was doing it - was it just for my ego? Now I feel happier doing my music more often from a place of genuine passion than a desire to “succeed” in my career and gain recognition, respect and validation.
Also something I always remember from recording my album: Bob who engineered it basically made the point that it’s great when things have character, rather than being perfect and pristine. Much better when things are interesting and have life to them than being perfectly executed. Sometimes all the imperfections and quirks are what make something great!
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Alisa And The Seahorses' new single 'Awkward Social Situation' is available to stream now. Check it out in the player below.