Lizzy Freeborn and Amy Woodburn combine to form the cross-generational ISYLA – one of this decade’s best Folk Pop duos coming out of the United Kingdom. Their music resume touts appearances and performances on BBC Introducing, VOXJAM, Music Declares Emergency, The Conscious Festival, FATEA, and Climate Live. Known for their cinematic music arrangements, rich harmonies, and sultry vocal prowess, ISYLA is gaining global success by the minute. Fans awaited the release of their latest album Of Blood and Star which dropped on Earth Day 2022 (22 April), and no one is dissatisfied. Now, Artistic Echoes invites you to read our interview with ISYLA.
Many interviews begin with the question, “what made you get into music?” But I want to switch things up a bit and ask:
KiKi – What drives you both to create music?
ISYLA – Our love for earth and life upon it and our creative spirits.
(K) Can you talk some on how you guys started working together?
(I) We took a chance on each other as near strangers. We met briefly through climate action. Over an idea-sharing coffee, we realised that we each had a strong comfort zone in singing and songwriting and agreed to team up to make songs together. It was a beautiful whirlwind. The coffee conversation was in January 2019, Amy wrote an album over a three-week period, and by February we were in the studio recording it. We got in a first-ever ‘we-are-doing-it’ hug in between vocal takes and then COVID descended. For months we then operated in the main with studio glass or phone screens separating us.
(K) Was there another duo that particularly influenced, or inspired, you to get into music?
(I) Not really in truth. We aren’t exactly a duo by design more that we both needed each other to move forward at least initially with the concept. We did think quite hard about how to package ourselves initially and wondered at first whether to go with Lizzie as the artist and Amy as a silent partner. Ultimately this felt dishonest; although a cross-generational duo is less conventional, at least in a pop world, we thought perhaps there was some intrigue or narrative there that could serve us well. The first album was obviously an incredibly fractured process due to COVID but frankly also because we were both incredibly new to the entire process of arranging, recording, and pushing out music. We gradually realised that we needed to be more duo-y to live up to our descriptor! Since then we have been growing towards each other with Amy contributing more vocal performances and Lizzie contributing more writing. It feels much more like a real, breathing thing this way.
(K) What about this genre of music – did you both work within this genre before meeting each other, or just one of you, etc?
(I) Lizzie had written several fragments of folky, layered pieces as a teen but began to develop her craft with more intention after the formation of ISYLA. Amy wrote songs very solidly in the wistful, folk-pop vein from age 11 into young adulthood. We both write separately and for ISYLA now and solo Lizzie often leans towards layered, earthy chants and euphoric harmonies, and Amy unashamedly, hooky pop.
(K) I am ½ of an Alternative Rock duo called TK Skinner, so I know that with any duo, it is honestly a partnership on all levels – in the same manner, as a relationship, because all parts of the whole are shared when it comes to writing, arranging, performing, style, etc. – even though one may take on a bigger part than the other. So, with ISYLA, what is your songwriting process like? Is it more regimented and structured, or looser and more sporadic? and who takes the reins on different aspects of tasks to make ISYLA what we hear today – in terms of lead vocals, backing vocals, melody arrangements, etc?
(I) Great question! And we are on such a journey with this one. The creation of the second album Of Blood and Star now feels rather like a baby step in the right direction towards a more even, shared ownership of the sound. It was written and arranged mostly by Amy in summer and Autumn 2019. Amy’s skeleton guides containing main vocals and some harmonies, bass grooves, loosely marked drum grooves, and comically sung guitar riffs were handed over to four incredible session players. Colours of the Rain is the first released ISYLA collab with Lizzie handing over a verse and Amy completing the song. Slip Acapella the opening track was Amy’s full version taken and reharmonised by Lizzie.
(I) Looking back we still had only known each other for 6 months and over such a strange and strained period. We had actually skipped such an important soul-bonding experience as two musicians – we had still barely ever sung together, not even in the studio, never mind performed together. A good partnership needs closeness and trust and we had not had a lot of chance to build this. We feel that under the circumstances we did really well to plough on and now that we are performing together (which by the way is bliss) it feels like Spring has sprung for ISYLA. We are finally able to share the process.
(I) Amy adores arranging and single Sapphire (recorded 6 months after Of Blood and Star) was probably an interesting turning point for us. There is huge rigor and structure to Amy’s writing and arranging approach but Lizzie adapted harmonies and added even more layers in the booth and for the first time was were allowed to share the room and the process and we felt like a team.
(I) We are writing new stuff already and we are now both so much braver in letting go and handing over pieces in fragmented form. It has been challenging for Lizzie to feel at ease improvising with another person and challenging for Amy to relinquish full control over the songwriting process. But it is also very exciting to see what happens when we blend our skills. We certainly don’t have ‘a way’ of doing it yet! In the last few weeks we have experimented with: Amy writes chords and a guide melody, Lizzie develops and adds words, Lizzie improvises vocal layers and Amy structures into a song form and Lizzie writes half a song, and Amy writes the second half!
(K) Which brings us to the amazing album Of Blood and Star. I love the way you opened the album with acapella. What is the concept behind the album?
(I) Thank you! Yes, we might make this a feature of future releases. It seems quite fun to give a little taste of something to come in this way.
(I) Yes, I think this album tells a story of deep and growing connections. The connection between the two of us and our connections to the urgent issues the planet faces. Amy was very late to the table facing up to the enormity of the unfolding crisis. Lizzie had wanted for years to channel her creativity into something positive for the environment. Our mission unites us but the two of us seem to have brains that whilst extremely particular in their own ways (Amy has ADHD and Lizzie Autism) work very harmoniously together.
(K) You stated that “Of Blood and Star’ represents our deeper connections with the earth and each other, we are all rooted in the ground together.” Can you elaborate on that for our readers?
(I) Although the lyrics are mostly Amy’s there was a very real attempt to channel something of both of us within them. Lizzie’s earthiness is strongly reflected in several tracks, Where We Dare, Of Blood and Star, and most prominently in co-write Colours of the Rain. I think we both find comfort and truth in the idea that we are all one. Humans can have a mentality, one that is undoing us, that we are all just entitled to live however we please, regardless of the impact this has on others. It is frankly breathtaking that current law still allows a fossil fuel industry to exist when the science has been so clear for so long. Why has it been so hard for us to take stock and say ‘enough’ there has to be another way? We think fear is one answer. We try through the lyrics, imagery, and the sweeping, cinematic nature of tracks like Of Blood and Star to show a different and beautiful way of being. To take away the fear that can be associated with change and remind people of what really matters and connects us all, love.
(K) Is there a threading theme that holds each song tight?
(I) Yes I think is just that! If you dig hard enough you can make a connection with most people. We would say most of the songs have an element of ‘love bomb’ to them! We think something else that the songs have in common lyrically is an open vulnerability. How can we expect other people to reach outside of their comfort zone and address something as big and difficult as climate change if we are not prepared to make the first move and be vulnerable before them? Admit that we are far from perfect, but trying anyway!
(K) How was it to team up with Lukas Drinkwater, Evan Carson, Kit Hawes, and Rob Pemberton (as musicians) and Gareth Young as producer on ‘Of Blood and Star?
(I) In short it was flipping brilliant. For two girls who had barely performed with others (much beyond Dads, brothers, and mates) it was sonic heaven (no offense meant towards Dads, brothers, and mates). The best thing about great players is, that if you have an arrangement idea, they will do your idea (but better) and if you don’t have an idea, they will do something anyway that is totally amazing. What these players added in spades was the atmosphere; the soundscapes; the super coolness. Gareth is a pro. They are super clean productions and definitely never expertly retune our vocals ever. Like never. 🙂
(K) I say that your song, “Invincible Heart” is a song that reaches a hand across the planet because it is like a PSA for our globe to be more unified – a message for us to respect each other’s ideals and amazing differences. That’s my take. Could either of you expound on this a bit?
(I) Yes this is just how Lizzie reads it! Amy’s childhood friends inspired this track (and feature in the video in photo form) but the idea of a more boundless love for all others is really clear in that one line, ‘If I could take our love and times it by the world, maybe there’s enough to go around here somehow.’ There is also a lovely third layer of meaning though as this song feels to Amy like a coming of age story and represents the fact that we can grow and see life from new perspectives at any age. Coming back to music after a 20-year gap has been hugely life-affirming.
(K) And one of my favorite tracks is “Colours of the Rain.” It is so cathartic and filled with illustrative lyrics. Can either of you tell us a little more about that wonderful euphoric track, please?
(I) Ah thank you. Well, this is a good sign of what is yet to come from ISYLA being our first co-write! Lizzie was inspired to write the verse lyrics and music when she was in a relationship with someone who didn’t seem aware of the beauty of the natural world, that she is deeply connected to. The bridge and chorus was continued by Amy with a lot of melody and chord workings pinging back and forward. Amy could feel the lovely jazz-tinged lilt in Lizzie’s phrasing but hadn’t written in this style before so it took a few goes to match that swinging feel in the phrasing of the chorus. It was fun to be inspired to do something new.
(K) Can you talk about your Eco campaign #NoMusicOnADeadPlanet? Is it still going on?
(I) Yes, there was a two-week campaign that began on Earth Day by the charity Earth Percent and was supported by Music Declares Emergency and it ended last Friday. It was a fabulous campaign that saw 122 artists, including Coldplay and Nick Mulvey donate unreleased tracks, which were available for this period on Bandcamp to raise money for organisations that work towards climate solutions. Its success is really indicative of the support that the music industry is giving to the fight for a more sustainable world. There is also a big climate and music event coming up in London called ‘overheated’ which Billy Eilish is fronting. It’s wonderful to see people with influence putting their weight behind the movement.
(K) Any other projects in the pipes?
(I) We never stop writing as it’s still the funnest bit for us. And now that we are truly being a ‘proper’ duo it is even more fun! We are now playing with a super lovely and talented guitarist and we may well be teaming up with him for some writing and producing down the line. Think we are going darker, beatier and more cinematic!
(K) Do you have any online shows coming up?
(I) Yes! We are playing, amongst others, at The Great Estate Festival on the 3rd June and the Three Wishes Fairy Festival on the weekend of 18/19th June in Cornwall and up in London on 24th August at the iconic Bedford in Balham, London.
(K) Last question, when did either of you last give yourself permission to let go?
Lizzie: Last night after not the best day I did some fire spinning and it all just melted away. I like fire.
Amy: I can’t remember…Oh when I wanted to do a sultry cover of Daft Punks ‘Get Lucky’ at gigs and it was ruled massively too cheesy.
(K) Thank you so much for your answers, ladies. When I am local, I would love to stop into one of your performances.
(I) We would love to see you there and thank you for these thoughtful questions!
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