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Five Questions With… Ayla Brook

Ayla Brook (pronounced Ey–Lah) makes music as raw and vast as the Canadian Prairies.

Five Questions With… Ayla Brook

By Jason Schneider

Ayla Brook (pronounced Ey–Lah) makes music as raw and vast as the Canadian Prairies. From his beginnings in Lily Plain, Saskatchewan, to successful records recorded with AA Sound System, to now his solo work, Ayla has never wavered from his original vision of honest roots rock.


That vision is brilliantly captured on Desolation Sounds, the new album by Ayla Brook & The Sound Men, out March 13 on Fallen Tree Records. Produced by Terra Lightfoot and mixed by Jon Auer of The Posies and Big Star fame, it’s a collection of songs and stories about friends and family, bursting with rock and soul and the western charm that has become the band’s trademark.
 
That was proven when the band was named Roots Artist of the Year at the 2018 Edmonton Music Awards, the capper to a full summer of folk and indie music festivals. Whether they’re packing dance floors in honky-tonks or in rock clubs soaked in wine and whiskey, Ayla Brook & The Sound Men deliver a tapestry of hurtin’ and feelin’ tunes about life on and off the barstools.
 
The band launches Desolation Sounds with a run of dates in Alberta this month joined by The Hearts, including March 26 in Edmonton at Rocky Mountain Icehouse, and March 27 in Calgary at The King Eddy. For more information go to aylabrook.com.

What sets Desolation Sounds apart from your previous work?

This album is one made by a bunch of folks who have been playing together for a long while and who have a certain confidence and camaraderie. That being said, we had a willingness to be pointed in new directions by our producer Terra Lightfoot to try new ideas and approaches. The arrangements sit between the stripped-down acoustic production of my first solo record After the Morning After, and the straight-up bar band approach of the Sound Men's first album. Also, we had the gift of having Terra and engineer Emily Bachinski lending their vocals to several tracks, and Kimberley MacGreggor doing a track we co-wrote. So there is much more of a female vocal presence.

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What songs on the record are you most proud of and why?

The first song on the record, Lift You Up, is a standout and a bit of a mission statement for the record. It's a love song to my music community. It's about keeping on doing what you love for the people you love. And supporting the folks around you trying to do the same.

How would you describe your artistic evolution so far?

I feel like I've just become a more distilled higher proof version of my younger self. I feel I've found a way to draw on all the disparate music traditions I love and honestly express them.

What's been the biggest change in your life over the past year?

I'm a letter carrier in my other life. I've started going to union meetings—getting organized and organizing. Things are rough out there, but better if we stick together. 

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What are your fondest musical memories as you were growing up?

My folks met in Winnipeg, so we'd often travel from Saskatchewan to the folk festival there where I got to see so many guitar greats and wonderful songwriters. I'm a short person, so I'd squish right up to the front of the stage, pretty much right between the monitors. There I would drink in the playing of folks like Big Dave McLean, Amos Garrett, Ellen McIlwaine and David Lindley. That's where I fell in love with the electric guitar. That's also where I first figured out what a sound tech was and got the first clue what all those cables were doing. Here I am now all these years later, still strumming guitars and wrapping cables!

Management: Brent Oliver / BOP MGMT
Label: Fallen Tree Records
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Jade Eagleson
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Jade Eagleson

Awards

Jade Eagleson, The Reklaws Lead CMAOntario Nominations in 2024

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