When she was only 18 years old AYLA made her debut on Australian radio with the single ‘Wish I Was’ in early 2014. The single garnered attention around Europe resulting in several remix versions of the song, and it also made it to number 15 on triple J's most played list to end a successful year. Since then she has released her EP ‘When The World Ends’, toured Australia twice and has performed at some of the biggest music festivals in the country. Now at 21 years old the Brisbane based singer/songwriter has industry experience and been co-writing her forthcoming EP with Birds of Tokyo musical talent Glenn Sarangapany due for release late 2017. Along with the release of the first single from the album ‘Shallow End’ AYLA announced a headline tour across the east coast of Australia.

June 30 2017 AYLA came to perform at Brisbane venue Black Bear Lodge and it was a night of sweet, acoustic sounds paired with her natural, folky voice. Her stage presence takes your attention immediately as she walks and sits centre stage, guitar in hand and pulls the microphone close into her to greet the crowd ‘Hey Brisbane, thank you for coming out tonight!’. The venue is not too packed so it is easy to see the performance from any angle, the lighting is simple and as she plays her first track of the evening ‘Waiting’ the crowd moves in closer to the stage.

‘Like The Other Kids’ is a nice track to create a more upbeat atmosphere and AYLA’s band encourages the crowd to dance as they play percussion instrument to accompany AYLA’s vocals. The audience gets a chance to dance, and have a bit of fun during this song and it is a nice break between more emotional folk ballads. During ‘When The World Ends’ AYLA brings focus to the lyrics in the song by separating from her guitar, it is a breathe of fresh air to watch her move alone on the stage without an instrument to hide behind.

As AYLA breaks into ‘Shallow End’ you know her set is coming to an end, but her energy doesn’t falter. She picks up the guitar again and starts the number bringing it to a strong crescendo as she shows off her jazzy vocals with lots of vibrato in the chorus, which picks up the pace for a final opportunity to have a dance. AYLA’s set was short of an hour, but showed off her older tracks and gave you a taste of what kind of album she will be releasing later this year.

Brianna Denmeade