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Every Monday we will be bringing you interviews with unsigned UK or Ireland artists for Independent Music Monday. Recently we caught up with unsigned Edinburgh based singer Katherine Aly to find out more…

Where are you from and how did you first get into music?
I grew up in Greece; I remember having a very basic keyboard when I was a child that I used to come up with little themes, which I really enjoyed doing. I was around 12 years old when I started writing songs with my best friend just for fun. I got really into songwriting when I joined my first band at the age of 16. We were all in high-school, practicing every Sunday, which was my favourite day of the week! Even from back then, I remember touching upon quite profound concepts that were puzzling my teenage brain. Lyrics played a very key role to the whole process, so it wasn’t just about writing catchy songs; just whatever reflected the society we were growing up in. That’s what made indie music my favourite genre – starting then and ever since. For a long time I was part of indie bands and my role was to sing so I would either bring in ideas, around which we would build the entire song or they would give me music to write lyrics and vocals on. My actual first song as a solo artist that I created from scratch was The Skin I’m Made Of; I wrote the piano part for it and from there we built all the textural layers with Graeme Young and Bruce Wallace at Chamber Studio in Edinburgh; super cool experience, I learnt loads from, that also made me confident about my songwriting, aside from my singing.

Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
My mother was also a singer but not a songwriter; she familiarised myself and my brother with greek folk music but also classical music, which I absolutely adored from a very young age. As a teenager I got into rock music (as you do!) and I actually was a metalhead at some point, which always surprises people when I bring it up! My first actual music crush was Jeff Buckley; to this day I can confidently say that Grace is probably my favourite album of all times and my style of singing was definitely influenced by this. When I went to uni I started listening to more electronic stuff, like Nils Frahm and Ólafur Arnalds. I also fell badly in love with London Grammar and they are also a big influence of mine. In the past couple of years my influences have definitely diversified a lot; from R&B/soul like SZA to synth pop like CHVRCHES, electronica like Jessie Ware, to neo-jazz like Arlo Parks and the list goes on.

How would you describe your sound?
I identify as genre agnostic; I write, record and release whatever feels right for me at that moment. My first releases had more of a new-classical style and I gradually moved to alternative pop, synth pop and most recently with a retro touch. My sound gets quite heavy when on stage playing with my band; I love the upbeat vibe that live instruments create and I’ve been very lucky in terms of the people I have on stage with me, that is Joe Djaelani on guitar, Dimitris Skouras on drums and Alex Shedlock on bass guitar and keys; they are all fantastic musicians and I’m really happy with how my live show will look and sound like from now on!

What is your latest release called and what was the influence behind it?
My new single is called Glow & Ignite and it’s out 16 July 2021. Glow & Ignite is literally a call to dance anxiety away; the lyrics are about how lonely it gets when dealing with a mental health issue while trying to keep your life on track. I wrote it when I hit another low in my mental health last summer, while having to deal with quite big changes in my personal and professional life, all the result of the pandemic. Songwriting really soothes me and at that point I really need something to cheer me up so I came up with the bass synth and drums parts while using the lyrics and vocal melody I literally came up with as a joke. It worked out quite well and the entire song was arranged and recorded quite effortlessly. Glow & Ignite is for anyone who’s feeling overwhelmed while seeking a way out of trouble and trying to reclaim some sort of balance. My music’s motto is ‘dance with your shadow’, embrace the dark side, let it ignite your creativity, accept it as part of your healing, be ok with not being ok – it’s only human. This is what I try to do anyway and I hope people will find that helpful in their own lives and struggles.

What’s your local music scene like?
When we’re talking about Scotland, the city with the most vibrant music scene is definitely Glasgow; however, thankfully over the last few years, Edinburgh, which is where I’m based, has improved a lot in terms of that too. There are some excellent venues like Sneaky Pete’s and Summerhall that host top notch gigs, bringing artists from all around the world. There are some local festivals that attract thousands of people as well, my favourite one being Hidden Door Festival, which is run entirely by volunteers but has had a tremendous impact on the upgrade of the music and art scene of Edinburgh. I’m really looking forward to returning to those favourite places of mine both to perform and to check out new artists that I’ve been waiting to see live for months! It’s of utmost importance to support grassroots venues and emerging artists so we can all gradually recover from the awful situation the pandemic created.

What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
In the next few months I’ll be releasing more music, starting with a few singles and leading up to a bigger release. At the same time I’ll be in the studio finishing more songs for next year and I’ll be creating a lot of visual content around my releases too. I’m booked to do shows around the UK and I really hope they will all go ahead as planned! There will be loads of stuff coming from me in the next 12 months and the best way for people to keep up-to-date is by signing up to my mailing list, simply by dropping a message on the social platform of their preference @itskatherinealy; I always share exclusive content with my subscribers, discounted tickets, invitations to secret gigs and more because people’s support means the world to me!

Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
It would be like a dream come true for me if I ever collaborated with Simon Green, aka Bonobo! I know it might sound a bit random but I’ve always admired how his music is a mosaic of genres and cultures where diverse collaborators come together to create truly exceptional electronic music.

Any funny stories surrounding your live performances?
I remember one time I was talking to the audience in between songs, introducing them to my next track and telling them that it was about them because it talks about discrimination; then, all the sudden the backing track starts playing before I managed to finish my sentence explaining that this is for anyone that has ever experienced bigotry and that it’s now time for intolerance towards intolerance; the result of this was me saying to my audience that this is a song about them, only to start singing very angry lyrics about biased, privileged people! I felt really embarrassed but everyone had a laugh when after finishing the song I told them what I actually meant before the backing track caught me off guard!

What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
Since I made the decision to talk openly about something as personal as what Glow & Ignite is about, I also started talking openly about being in therapy for over a year now, which it’s one of the best and bravest decisions I’ve ever made in my life. It would be great if we start normalising getting help when things get too difficult – or even better, before they do. I know it’s not easy to admit that you’re not as strong as you used to be and it’s even harder opening up and being exposed to things you didn’t even know you carry, but eventually there comes a time when you start seeing it was totally worth it and I won’t stop advocating that!

You can find out more about Katherine on her website or via Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, SoundCloud, Spotify, TikTok, Twitter or YouTube and you can where to listen to ‘Glow & Ignite’ here.

UPDATE: Katherine is now signed to Metro 13 Records, congratulations Katherine!