This summer, Aislinn Logan entered the game with her three singles ‘Spree’, ‘Fair Game’ and her newest bop ‘Wait On Me’. Electronic sounds and captivating melodies shape her music, which fits right into the Zeitgeist, dealing with tales of human connection, freedom and letting go.

First of all: Congratulations on your singles and that they’re doing so great!

Thank you, I’m glad you like them.

So my first questions go back to the roots: When did it become clear for you that you wanted to focus on creating music, and how did it actually work out?

So I had played music for a very long time. It was always kind of an after-school activity really, or something in school. I played the cello, piano, [in] orchestras, quartets, choirs – that sort of stuff. I went to the Belfast School of Music. Whenever I was a teenager music started taking on a different form, to be more than a homework item. I got really into some albums and I suppose I was going through that moody teenage thing of ‘nobody gets me’. The music did.

Then I got my first guitar on my first day of uni: it was terrible, and all my flatmates had to listen to me teach myself how to play. I’m sure their ears were bleeding, it was pretty bad.

Over the years I’ve always written in one way or another, and I suppose I do read a lot. So when I was in uni and got the guitar and I was learning how to play, I kind of put two and two together and started writing songs. I was studying law over in Scotland, which was fairly heavy at times, and it became my creative outlet.

That sounds pretty cool! You’ve talked about how singles are often polished versions of your bedroom studio recordings, so how does the songwriting progress usually look like for you? Do you have a specific style you’re sticking to or is it different every time?

In terms of the actual building of the song?

Exactly.

I would say it can be different every time, certainly. My writing has changed over the past few years: I used to just write with a guitar, and that has changed quite a bit because I’m getting a lot more involved in the production side of things. So I’ll have my computer in my bedroom, with a keyboard and my little pad. I’ll start plinky-plunking, getting ideas down, and play around with Logic, which is a music-software program. I kind of write that way now. But in terms of the sound itself, I’m kind of bad at keeping it all uniform, I’m quite bad at trying to keep it the same vein. But I think, to be honest, I’m not going to try to rule against that, because that’s how life kind of is, in a way? That sounds a bit silly, but I think that if I can feel a certain way one week and then completely differently the next, about innumerable things – the result should naturally be a bit more free? I do also listen to a lot of different genres of music, so I guess that contributes to differing sounds in the output too.

When you say that have different musical influences, I also realized that in comparison to your older songs, which were a bit more singer-songwriter, your newer singles are more powerful, more danceable. Do you have any role models or musicians in particular that had an impact on your music?

Yeah, I definitely used to do more of the songwriter stuff. I was really big into Fleetwood Mac whenever I was growing up – Elton John, Phil Collins, Billy Joel, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon – the story tellers. But, as the years went on, I started to write the sort of music that I wanted to listen to, you know? And the music that I was listening to wasn’t the singer-songwriter, playing guitar and singing along stuff. Actually, the sounds that I find most inspiring usually come from bands, rather than individuals. Glass Animals really inspired the last song, because I think their sound can be really fun and playful, and I wanted to make something loose and carefree. They are on a few great podcasts actually speaking about their process, I’m a bit of a podcast nerd.

Same!

Yeah, they’re so great! Some of the music ones are super nerdy, which I love!

Do you also think that, considering you were born in Belfast and then moved to Dundee and now live in London, the different cities with their different vibes have an influence?

Definitely, yeah! And I travel quite a lot as well. I have a day job and I work quite a bit in the Netherlands, so I’m in Amsterdam a wee bit as well, and I love Berlin. But no, I think you’re right! Meeting new people, going to new places – those experiences are essentially what fuels music.

Your newest single ‘Wait On Me’ came out of the feeling that there is a constant rush with the pressure to “have it all figured out”. Is that a feeling that you also experience as an upcoming artist in the music industry?

I would say that’s probably true for most creative industries, even non-creative to be honest. I think there’s a degree of truth in that for all people in their early/mid twenties. There’s is a bit of a pressure on us to, on the face of it, have our shit together, and I think that’s a bit of a shame. The song is sort of advice to myself, to try and take it easy and remember to breathe. I’m guilty of feeling that pressure. Sometimes I feel like I’m in a constant rush in London, it can be so “go, go, go!”

I think we probably all are, to some point. In the chorus of the single, there’s the line “It’s the age of oversharing, undercaring” which I find quite characteristic for our generation. Do you think that our behaviour has an impact on that?

Yeah, I think unfortunately, technology is probably having quite an impact on human connection. It’s getting in the way of empathy, our ability to form meaningful relationships with people. How we encounter strangers, relate to one another is probably changing because we’re constantly glued to screens.

That seems very likely. One question that goes back to your influences: do you see a comparison between the Irish and British music scene?

I would say they are very different. I think the Irish scene is super exciting at the moment. The Irish scene is booming, it’s a great time for Irish music. And I mean, the British music scene will always be this monster to crack, not that Ireland’s scene isn’t, but I find the British music scene a little bit more intimidating.

So last but not least: you’re playing in Dublin on the 23rd of November. What can we expect from an Aislinn Logan live gig?

A lot of fun! *laughs* A few failed jokes from me…

Always good!

Hopefully it’ll be a night of great craic! I’ll be playing some new stuff, I’m quite excited about it!

Sounds very good! Thank you very much for taking the time to talk with us at TN2, and all the best for the exciting times that are coming ahead.

Aislinn Logan is playing her first Dublin headliner show Upstairs at Whelan’s on the 23rd of November. Tickets are on sale for €10 on Ticketmaster.