As soon as she takes to the stage, Ayla is captivating. The small venue and intimate crowd at The Brunswick are perfect, allowing her to tell stories and share country inspired songs, and we are hooked immediately.
Ayla hails from rural Germany, but is rooted in country music, telling us about her parents and her grandmother, who all loved blue grass. This is one of the first dates on her UK tour, named ‘Come Alive’ after one of her own tracks, and she’s brought both her guitar and her fiddle, switching between them seamlessly, both instruments completely mastered. However, it is her use of the technically difficult and all powerful loop peddle that grabs our attention. Turning to her secondary microphone, she bravely lays down track after track, blending harmonies, adding in syncopated rhythms, spiking it with her own style of beat box and sounds from her instruments. Whilst she’s building the track, she’s a pure musician, not only a performer, dedicated to the sounds she’s building. She creates a choir of voices and an impressive range of textures, all working together. What is most impressive is that she continues to add in loop tracks throughout the song, something we’ve never seen performed live before.
Ayla has a great heritage in Germany and is just branching out, a tour of the UK taking in some well known venues and events. She brings with her a number of her own penned songs but is also brave enough to cover classics such as Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ and a ‘Chain Of Fools’ by Aretha Franklin, both enhanced through the use of her loop pedal. Particular stand-out tracks from the evening were ‘Divine Justice’ where we were challenged to keep up the beat throughout the song and ‘Silent’ which showed a softer side and a more reflective mood.
The whole evening left us with a sense of a young musician who has a strong identity, a real talent for composition and a bright future. A pleasure to see someone so passionate about what they do.
Ayla Schofield Set List
Black Horse And A Cherry Tree
Than Reality
Turn Off The Light
Jolene
GPS
Change For The Better
Cover Me Up
Come Alive (2023 Single)
