Submitting.
“I was thinking, OK, these songs tell the stories of individuals, but we need something that encapsulates the sentiment of what I was saying in them. Once you get there, meet the people and walk its streets, you realise there is much more to understand about Govan’s past and present. It’s not just ship land.”
Ainsley Hamill
She opens it with richly voiced, evocative yet elegiac lines: “Salt water and city fill my head / Darkness falls on the bridge…” Unable to cram the Czech Studio Orchestra into her room (social distancing would go out the window), she recruited arranger and composer Lindsay to help with the accompaniment.
BBC Radio Scotland fell in love with Ainsley’s track, ‘No Time to Lose Time’ and played it as their single of the week. I was captivated by this new-to-me voice. Plaintive, melodious – and really rather gorgeous. Some shades of Joni Mitchell – ethereal, floating and extremely hard to pigeon-hole. Often, Ainsley in this musical-mix, sounds more akin to ethnic-world music than Scottish. A tad strange, given Ainsley’s background in Traditional folk music and the band, Barluath, who play some great modern Gaelic songs.
As the publicity tells us:
“2021 sees a new direction for Ainsley with the release of her solo album ‘Not Just Ship Land’. Produced by BBC composer Malcolm Lindsay, featuring the Czech Studio Orchestra conducted by Mikel Toms. Featuring self-penned songs such as ‘Belle of the Ball’ from Ainsley’s first solo release, accompanied by string orchestra.” Here’s a video about the making of the album (from Malcolm):