Category Archives: Albums

Here it is! New music video for “Been Better”. Do you like it ?! : )

Photo by Debbie Scanlan

As I wrote before – Kyla decided to talk with me and answered on some questions. Now, you can read our conversation about her and her music, below! Enjoy!

I wanted the title to be something to do with what’s left behind after something has ended. Lots of the songs are to do with break-ups or falling out of love, so the title had to be sympathetic to that.

I don’t know if I have ones that I am most proud of, but I really like these lines from Sympathy: “Couldn’t let you cradle my head or stay, let you waste your wonderful words. In my sleep I circled your heart with red ink, when I woke you were already hurt.”

I think my favourite film is either ‘Leon’ or ‘Napoleon Dynamite.’ If Ashes was a film it would probably be quite a depressing one, with lots of drama, and potentially no happy ending.

No I definitely don’t hunt any animals – I am a vegetarian! I love animals. All the bones and skulls and horns are actually things my parents have found over the years – they love collecting strange objects (my mum once found the skeleton of a swan and kept it on top of our fridge for about a year). I like having those things on stage with me because I’m surrounding myself with things from the house I grew up in – it makes it feel more like the stage is my little world.

I just wanted a simple line drawing of something that made me feel happy. There’s no deep meaning behind it, I just really liked the shape of the boat and how simple it was.

The photoshoot was a collaboration between me, Debbie Scanlan (a friend of mine who does my photos and videos) and my Dad. We went to a park at midnight and there was mist everywhere rising up off the grass. My Dad set up two flashes, Debbie set up the camera, and I jumped around like a crazy person. It was very cold, but I love the photos so much. I love the way you can see the mist in the background if you look carefully, and how I look like a kind of mad fairy. I used to be addicted to the Brother’s Grimm tales when I was a child (I read all of them), so with this shot and with the Vampire Smile video I think I took a bit of inspiration from those dark magical stories.

The ability to make everything ok.

I hardly ever wash my hair. There’s too much of it!

For me, definitely falling out of love. I can’t write songs when I’m happy.

Kyla La Grange needs no introduction. Amongst the budding artists and album releases of 2012, her music has singularly shone; with a voice which would knock Adele off her chair and the uncanny ability to evoke a whole spectrum of emotions through haunting melodies. Tracks such as, ‘To Be Torn’ contains themes we can all relate to. Her style ranges from rock-folk to ballad, indie to soul and a few other genres thrown in for good measure and this debut album proves something that TGA suspected all along – La Grange is something of an unsung national treasure.

Opening with ‘Walk Through Walls’, La Grange mixes soulful vocals with anthem-like instrumentals (our girl Amy Bell recently reviewed this epic track – read it here). Hugely popular, second track, ‘Courage’ utilises the singers loud vocals. Souring high at the chorus, the song is gorgeous and show case of Grange’s unique abilities as an artist. Previously unreleased track, ‘To Be Torn’ is accompanied by a coaxing guitar which almost encourages Kyla’s piercingly sorrowful notes to emerge triumphant from their slow tenor mourn and, as with much of the album, a resolution to the resounding sadness that envelopes the track seems unreachable and it ends as it begun – in desolation.

‘Vampire Smile’, switches to an increased tempo and a nod to folk rock whilst incorporating a bluesy croon that speaks of unrequited love. Throughout the song there is a conflict surrounding passion and obsession which speaks of a loss of self – ‘I’m trying not to bite your neck but it’s beautiful/ And I’m gonna get so drunk on you and kill your friends/ And you’ll need me and we can be obsessed’, which – through a speeding tempo – betrays a feeling of being slightly unhinged.  These pain peppered lyrics weave a commentary on love and loss and, with each new track, it appears that throughout the writing of ‘Ashes’, La Grange has used her music as a type of liberation from that which has knocked her down.

Commendable for its originality, invigorating guitar riffs and a very genuine injection of emotion – ‘Ashes’ shows that this is the calm before the storm and once it receives the notoriety it deserves, La Grange is sure to make it big.

Sarah Horney