About


Alas de Liona is currently back in her Mojave Desert hometown in California and planning to return to Scotland in 2023. She has just been announced to appear as a special guest alongside, Hamish Hawk and Admiral Fallow at The Proclaimers, Big Top Concerts in June in Kelso Showground, Edinburgh’s Leith Links and Glasgow Queens Park.

She had returned to Scotland over the summer for appearances as a duo at Edinburgh’s Hidden Door Festival and opening for Rufus Wainwright in Glasgow’s Summer Nights at Kelvingrove Bandstand.

Alas also had her first headline shows with a 3-piece band at Glad Café and Voodoo Rooms and a couple of packed out solo acoustic Edinburgh pub shows.

She also recorded two new songs with her band, back at Post Electric Studios in Leith with producer Rod Jones. The first Vortices was released in October and then Spirals in early November.

Alas de Liona hails from a small town in the Mojave Desert, with a dreamlike song writing sensibility, she weaves unique lyrical and melodic experiences.

Her final year at University of California, Santa Barbara saw her head to Edinburgh in Autumn 2019, to complete her course at University of Edinburgh.

During her stay in the city, she began to make a name for herself performing in pubs. Covid-19 lockdowns and the complete halt of all live music forced a shift in focus from live performing to writing and recording new music.

After graduation and free from the demands of academia, Alas took her first steps toward fulfilling her musical aspirations, returning to Edinburgh late in 2020 to record the Radio Astronomy EP, a collection of space lullabies and cosmic folktales with producer Rod Jones at Post Electric, Leith and subsequently released in summer 2022.

The EP was championed by BBC Radio Scotland’s Roddy Hart, BBC Introducing with Phoebe I-H & Shereen Cutkelvin, Billy Sloan Amazing Radio, Scotland on Sunday Artist of the Week, YMX, Indie Music Center and was picked up by a diverse range of over 200 Spotify Playlists.

Five distinct music videos for the EP were created in adherence to various strict limitations and the multitude of unfamiliar creative avenues Alas negotiated highlight her inventive talents.

Having been back in California, during the second half of last year, Alas returned for her Celtic Connections debut on January 29th at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall, New Auditorium. Following the cancellation of her original show with Allison Russell due to the pandemic, Alas joined a bill with Tinderbox Collective & Kathryn Joseph. Performing stripped down from her dreampop, soundscape studio sound as a duo with keyboardist Gus Harrower, enjoying a brilliant reaction from a sell-out crowd. 

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