by Tobias Moore

With vocal runs that mirror the rolling of the Welsh hills, Drive, the debut single with Dalliance Recordings, sees Ailsa Tully blend the ethereal mystique of her Celtic heritage with a modern-day transience – and the first piece from a body of work that seemingly reimagines the conventions of time.

Drawing inspiration from a desire to set oneself free from the mental stagnation that the everyday can bring, Tully returns to her Welsh roots to reacquaint both the listener and herself with the healing and transcendental properties that nature provides. A space where the leaves stay golden and the sun sets at your will, Tully’s mastery at creating an aural landscape encapsulates the drawn-out, but quicksand nature of time, and is refreshingly paradoxical.

Basking in an ever-changing ambience, Tully removes your ability to keep track of time, and, through wandering bass lines, it draws you into a piece that, despite feeling so vast in atmosphere and landscape, is far from isolating. Subtle, yet full of reassuring charm, there’s also a sense of seasoned age Tully’s vocal styling, as she glides from falsetto into a range as tender as it is indulgent.

With a weightlessness present – something almost supernatural in its ability to transfigure through such a variety of textures – Tully’s highly anticipated reemergence feels oddly fitting for this time of year. Autumnal in the golden warmth that breeds within its backdrop, while possessing an understated chill through her folklore harmonic arrangements, Drive feels as fitting an introduction to winter as it is for Tully.

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