UK singer-songwriters Lizzie Freeborn and Amy Woodburn are a cross generational duo who formed in 2020 to offer a musical response to raising the profile of the climate crisis. The two combine their love for cinematic arrangements, dynamic harmonies and sultry grooves to sing for life on earth.
Since their 2020 debut they have featured on BBC Introducing, Music Declares Emergency, The Conscious Festival, FATEA, Climate Live and received critical acclaim from eco and music press around the world. ISYLA have performed for Climate Live, VOXJAM and made their London debut at the iconic Bedford venue in 2021.
The album ‘Of Blood And Star’, is out on Earth Day (22nd April) and follows the success of their 2020 release ‘Where She Walks’, which received acclaim across global media outlets in the music and eco fields.
So tell us about how you met and decided to start ISYLA
Amy: Well I met Lizzie at a Climate Action meeting we were both attending about 2 years ago. We immediately found each other sharing the same values and creative spark so talked about sharing ideas straight away.
Lizzie: Yes! I had only been to a few of the Climate Action events even though I had been aware of the enormity of this issue for quite a bit. We simply clicked and locked in some insightful conversations one of which took us to realize we had to write some songs together
Amazing. Tell us more about the early days of making music together. How was it?
Lizzie: Well at that time we just wanted to make our music accessible to as many people as possible while spreading such a loaded message. So we almost naturally took a more ‘pop ish’ avenue until we realized that the word pop in this industry is irretrievably tied to how many streams you get, how many followers you have etc. which we don’t think is the purpose of our project ultimately.
Amy: Agreed! To be fair, we were quite new to this industry when we started off so we didn’t know the huge role that numbers and stats play towards making an artist ‘pop’ and mainstream so we just decided we should focus on making music that could perfectly marry what excites both of us.
How do you approach sustainability as touring musicians?
Amy: We have to think very carefully about how we do this since there are so many different aspects to this such as touring, making merch etc. For instance, we try to travel with our electric car as much as possible, we prioritize local shows
Lizzie: We are fully aware of the fact that we can’t be perfect and live within the framework of a society and lifestyle built on fossil fuel so we are doing our best to stay true to our message here while making the necessary compromises. Authenticity is a core value for us and ISYLA
What about your music and current projects? What do you have going on?
Lizzie: We actually have a huge surplus of material at the moment! No complaints there!
That’s always a good place to be! Are you experimenting with new sonic avenues?
Amy: A little bit, yes! It’s actually not easy to say what the main genre of this record would be to be honest.
LIzzie: True. We’ve been trying to mix my love for spiritual music, movements and atmospheres with Amy’s more classic-leaning songwriting and style. I would say the sound will be a little darker though.
Amy: Also Lizzie is a dancer and performs with fire and hoops and more amazing stuff so it’s crazy that we haven’t incorporated that into our music and live performances yet. That’s definitely in the works.
Let’s close with this. What makes you happy with your work at the end of each day?
Lizzie: I’m happy when I’m able to inspire people to connect with nature and their spiritual side, truly.
Amy: Agreed! We want to make caring sexy! Especially with ‘Of Blood And Stars’ we are hoping to make people ‘fall in love with Earth again’ to quote Brian Eno.
