Singer- songwriter Ainsley Hamill spoke to David Hennessy about her new album inspired by Scottish myth and legend ahead of her gig at the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith this weekend.
Acclaimed Scottish singer Ainsley Hamill comes to The Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith this weekend.
It concludes her English tour of her new album, Fable.
Inspired by Scottish folklore, Fable blends traditional and original songs in Gaelic, Scots, and English, boasting vivid tales from Scotland’s legends and landscapes.
RnR Magazine describe Ainsley as, “One of the best of her generation.”
She has featured in ‘The List’ Hot 100 Cultural Scots 2024.
Hailing from the West Coast of Scotland, Ainsley has built a career merging traditional Scottish folk with a modern touch.
Ainsley has just released her much-anticipated third studio album, Fable, produced by Sam Kelly.
Recorded in Glasgow, the album delves into the legends and landscapes of Scotland, with each track weaving a narrative that resonates with ancient stories and contemporary relevance.
Her previous album, Not Just Ship Land (2021) was named The Guardian’s Album of the Month.
The album celebrates the unsung heroes of Govan.
Ainsley’s accolades include being a BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year Finalist, a Gaelic Singer of the Year nominee at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards, and representing Scotland at Eurovision Choir in Gothenburg in 2019.
Her festival appearances are numerous, including a decade of performances at Celtic Connections and international stages like The Festival Interceltique de Lorient.
With roots nurtured at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Ainsley has a deep connection to Gaelic and traditional song.
She was also formerly a member of the folk band Barluath.
You’re based in London, I bet you’re looking forward to your upcoming show at the Irish Cultural Centre..
“Yeah, it’s such a beautiful space.
“Actually I hadn’t been in it until I recorded with them for the radio programme only a couple of weeks ago.
“And I thought, ‘Why have I never been in here before?’
“I will be now because I see how gorgeous it is.”
You have just launched your new album at Celtic Connections, was that special?
“Oh, that was amazing.
“Glasgow is my home city and to launch the album there was very, very special.
“The album is all about Celtic folklore, myth, legend, very much about the stories and the people and the places, and it just felt so apt to launch it there.
“I’ve always been used to the festival happening in the city and it’s always such a big honour to showcase your act there.
“It genuinely does feel like quite an honour to be able to launch my album there.
“That was honestly brilliant.
“And then we’ve got these English dates coming up.
“I’m just so excited.
“I’ve never done a proper solo English tour.
“I used to do it all the time with my band, Barluath.
“This is amazing for me.”
This album is more representative of you and your live show in that it is a mix of traditional and your own songs.
Is that fair to say?
“100%, I’ve always done very niche things, niche projects, and I kind of go where the wind takes me sometimes in terms of what feels good at the time.
“I live my life like that: Do what feels right at the time. No regrets.
“You’re right, the essence of me is just I want to perform, I want to sing the songs, I want to be up on the stage and there’s no point lying about that.
“That is just who I am.
“I get energy from it.
“The songs are a vessel but I happen to also just love the songs and love the stories and the folklore, so it all kind of feeds in each other this time around.
“It feels very special.
“I’ve been influenced by the stories and the mythology since I was very, very young so this feels like a really true representation of who I am musically and personally.”
The theme is almost accidental, isn’t it? You didn’t sit down to write a folklore album, you were moved to record these 11 individual tracks and the theme emerged..
“This is it, and this is what makes it even clearer to me, that it just is who I am as a person and a performer because I picked all of these songs and then it was only after I thought, ‘Gosh, there’s a little theme emerging here’.
“Also some of the songs I’ve sang since I was a kid, for 15 years and never recorded them, never found the right project to put them into.
“I sometimes find it hard to part with some songs because they’re so personal and meaningful to me.
“This felt like the right time.
“Like, ‘Why are you holding on to them? Don’t hold on to them anymore’ because they’re not mine, especially the traditional songs.
“It’s really important, I think, for folk to remember that none of it is yours.
“You can own a part of it and feel sentimental when you hear it and love it, but it doesn’t belong to you.
“So I kind of thought, ‘Let go, just let go of them, record them’.
“That felt quite special as well.
“It was nearly like a weight off my shoulders to do that.”
The first single off the album was Ó Ho-ró ’ille Dhuinn which has themes of war and young men going off to war not knowing if they will ever return and the women being left behind.
The album is called Fable because there are learnings in it but, with wars going on all over the world, that seems to be a lesson we have not learned yet..
“Exactly.
“I think you can’t take each individual song as a fable but as a whole, you can take it as a fable.
“There’s something to be learned from all our songs and stories across all Celtic regions because the stories and the legend and the myth is shared between most of the Celtic regions, specifically Ireland and Scotland.
“It’s important to remember that.
“It’s important to remember that we should be learning from them because there are valuable lessons like war being a total monstrosity and ruining lives and land and communities.
“We will never learn that lesson.
“It just happens again and again and again but I hope people eventually do take heed.”
There is the song The Cailleach about the ‘old hag’ of winter from both Scottish and Irish mythology..
“What strikes me is the English translation of Cailleach is ‘old hag’ and obviously the connotations of old hag in English are bad connotations that you get a sense of kind of evil, wicked, like ‘that wicked witch’.
“And it’s maybe right at the surface.
“That’s what it can be perceived as: She kills everything. She’s culling everything. She’s been brutal. She’s taking everything that grows away to make it totally desolate but then you see beyond that.
“What’s she doing? She’s taking it away so it can come back in more abundance.
“It’s the idea of if it’s never away, how are you going to appreciate it?
“There’s no wanting for it, so it’s multifaceted.
“But it’s funny that the English speaking world has taken that essence of hag and created bad connotations around it.
“I find it really interesting.
“Through the translation, it becomes a sort of witchy character when it’s actually much, much more than that.”
Another song on the album is your reinterpretation of Nina Simone’s Sinnerman.
Weren’t you a bit reluctant about putting that out?
“Yeah, I was very nervous about putting it out, nervous/excited to be fair, because is it a trad song?
“When people first look at it, no, it’s not.
“It’s utterly iconic and people would maybe associate it more with soul/jazz.
“But then if you look at the origins of the song, it’s an African American spiritual song so therefore it is a folk song.
“I thought, ‘Okay, that’s exactly the same as me singing a traditional or folk song or an anonymous song that’s very, very old from Scotland.
“And actually when you look deep into the song’s meaning, it’s about Sinnerman looking for salvation.
“So this sinner man looking for salvation is looking to the big man.
“He says, ‘Will you give it to me?’
“He says, ‘No, I won’t give it to you. You need to go in search of it somewhere else’.
“So then he runs to the devil and the devil says, ‘No, I will not give it to you. You’ll need to find it somewhere else’.
“So he goes to the rock and the sea and the river.
“I’m not religious.
“However, I still find the sentiment to be very, very powerful.
“No one will give him salvation, only he himself can give himself salvation.
“Setting himself free, living up to what he’s done, facing the truth, and only then will you find your salvation.
“I think that is so, so deep and true.
“You’ll never achieve anything, you’ll never grow, you’ll never be better if you don’t face up to the facts and take a cold, hard look at yourself.
“That story exists in a lot of traditional songs.
“And I thought, ‘This is a folk song. This is a traditional song. Why should I be nervous about doing this?’
“And then it’s actually in Scottish Gaelic which makes it a little bit different.
“And then also my band were amazing.
“For them to face up to that really iconic Nina Simone arrangement and create this superb new arrangement, hats off to them.
“It just shows them for who they are.
“They’re really original and fantastic musicians to do that.
“I think I could safely say that the track stands alone and it’s not just a cover, it’s a different interpretation of the song.”
When did you know that you were going to pursue music or did you always know?
“I literally always knew.
“I know that sounds mad but I genuinely did.
“That want to perform has literally always been with me.
“People at school, teachers (said), ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’
“And I used to say, ‘A singer’.
“But they would say, ‘Oh, that’s nice’.
“Even as a wee girl I thought, ‘You don’t believe me, do you?’
“Here I am so there’s a lesson as well: When a wee person says something to you, maybe you should take it seriously.”
Your last album Not Just Ship Landed really brought you acclaim, did it take you little by surprise?
“I really didn’t expect the response to be perfectly honest with you.
“It was the Guardian album of the month and I had never quite got press coverage like that and feel it caused a little bit of a stir in terms of the view on Govan, like they’re viewing Govan in a totally different way.
“I guess people think it’s a wee bit rough and some colourful characters and there’s not much to it, but that’s just not true.
“It’s just not true at all.
“Yeah, it’s colourful but for good reasons.
“It’s very historical, very, very rich in terms of culture, the people.
“So I think it’s sort of changed some people’s perspective on the place which is only a good thing.
“Hopefully it encourages people to go into Govan and see that there’s some absolute magic happening there within the community.
“That was really important to me as well.
“I feel I was brought to more folks’ attention and that’s definitely helped me for this album as well.”
Back to the album tracks, I was thinking of The Angels’ Share.
That phrase reminds me of both a Scottish film but also the process of making whiskey…
Where does that song come from?
“It’s exactly that.
“Obviously you know the process.
“When the whiskey is distilled, it gets put in the barrels to collect colour and age and obviously the taste matures as well.
“During this time, the chemical reaction happens where the liquid evaporates and that evaporation process is called the angels’ share because, of course, the vapours rise up into the atmosphere.
“It’s funny.
“I come from a very whiskey orientated family.
“Most of my family worked in the whiskey industry in different departments and areas so throughout the years, I’ve seen a wide variety of what goes on.
“I actually come from a place called Cardross which is next to Dumbarton and there was a whiskey bond in Dumbarton.
“It made Ballantines whiskey and sometimes the town would smell so strongly of the mash getting cooked.
“It was absolutely stinking.
“Honestly, it’s indescribable.
“It is so strong it makes you feel delirious.
“From a very young age I have known about whiskey and been interested in it.
“Why is it called ‘the angels’ share’?
“We obviously have this connection to the mythical and sometimes not even mythical.
“People have a real belief in the fairies.
“It’s not just this made up mythical thing.
“It is a real belief.
“And the angels’ share, where does it go?
“That is the stimulus behind that song?
“And it’s super personal to me because of my family history within the whiskey industry.”
It sounds like you’re open to these things that are mythical or fantastical- you just mentioned fairies there- Is it fair to say you’re not dismissive of such notions?
“100% because where’s the magic if you don’t believe?
“I’m not saying I do and I’m not saying I don’t but I think what is exciting is to go in with an open mind and look at both sides of the coin.
“I had a very, very good Gaelic song teacher and I remember saying to her one day, ‘All these stories are just so fanciful, how the heck do people come up with them?’
“And she says, ‘Well, let me just tell you: All legend stems from truth’.
“This was many, many years ago now, and it was a real turning point for me.
“Of course it is.
“People are not just going to start something random, pull something from their head.
“It always stems from something.
“Where does it all come from?”
Back to the record it’s a real eclictic mix, isn’t it?
“There’s a real variety of songs on there so I think it’s a real kind of unique listening experience.
“It feels a unique experience in that it’s crafted to have real ups and downs and to perk your ear up every time a new track starts.
“That was really important to me when crafting it and also, one of my really favourite tracks is the Beamer Puirt.
“I love singing Puirt à beul.
“I just think it is so joyous and just a real representation of who I am as well.
“I want to sing.
“I want to perform.
“I want to perform in Gaelic.
“I want to share these beautiful stories in the rich culture and tradition of where I’m from.”
Fable is out now.
Ainsley Hamill is touring England plays Norden Farm in Maidenhead on 6 March, Foyer Folk in Saffron Walden on 7 March, Whitchurch in Hampshire on 8 March and The Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith with Sam Kelly and Toby Shaer on Sunday 9 March. For tickets go to irishculturalcentre.co.uk.
For more information about Ainsley, click here.
