Talking To: Ailie Robertson, Scottish Harpist and Composer

After four years studying genetics at Cambridge University, harpist Ailie Robertson reached a crossroads: continue down the path of research science or find a new direction. A gap year at the Ireland World Academy of Music and Dance turned into a music career and, 15 years later, Robertson’s an in-demand composer and performer. She’s released her solo project Adenine in early October.  

Adenine threads together Robertson’s science and music experiences with her love of the outdoors in an exquisite collection of spare harp melodies textured with electronics, strings, and field recordings. The title ties back to the start of her career when she decided to fully pursue music.

“Adenine is one of the bases that you find in DNA,” she said. “It’s such a basic, primitive thing. I felt that sort of tied in with this music, which feels primitive in some ways.

Adenine gave Robertson the outlet to explore her own voice as a composer, arranging instrumentation and soundscapes that felt authentic to herself.  “It feels a little bit like starting from the beginning again, which is kind of terrifying, but really exciting as well,” Robertson said. “And it’s the first time that I’ve really felt that I have full musical control over a project. It’s really something ‘me’—something that’s just coming from my own passions and my own interests.

Robertson’s well versed in performing folk dance melodies for audiences and writing contemporary classical pieces for groups like Bang on a Can. The idea for Adenine took root when she realised she favoured listening to minimalist, electronic-influenced musicians like Nils Frahm. “That was a lightbulb moment,” Robertson said. “There was something in me that was almost scared to write the music that I enjoy.”

A harpist since age 12, Robertson plays both Celtic harp, a folk ensemble instrument, and the classical harp found in orchestras. The classical harp’s larger size, pedals, and number of strings suits it for more complex melodies – “they’re far more similar than they’re different, but increasingly I find myself more drawn toward the sound of the Celtic harp,” she said.

Robertson composed the pieces for Adenine in mid-2019 and recorded the tracks—all named for different Scots-language words for rain—in the autumn. She invited four long-time musician friends with similar classical-folk backgrounds to record with her: Donald Grant (violin), Catriona Price (violin), Felix Tanner (viola), and Su-a Lee (cello). Robertson also collaborated with Jim Sutherland and Andrea Gobbi, producers with electronic and classical backgrounds, to bring the full album to fruition.

“It was very hard to pin down what sort of genre this [music] is,” she said. “It was very important to find people that would just get it and sort of take it at face value.”

“Haar”, performed at Glasgow Concert Halls 

Robertson created videos to help Adenine’s listeners visualise the cinematic-style tracks, which also enhances the nature sounds interlaced throughout them.

She tackled the video for “Smirr” on her own, armed with only her tenacity and a DSLR camera, through sheets of rain and wind, at a wind farm near her home; “[f]rom inside the car it looked quite serene, but the moment you stepped out it was absolutely wild,” Robertson said. “...I spent a few hours driving around there filming and then pieced it together.”

Adenine’s Smirr

Working later around Coronavirus restrictions, she tapped Scottish filmmaker Samuel Hurt to create the “Flindrikin” video. “We were very deep into the lockdown and it was the point where you really couldn’t leave the house at all,” said Robertson. “I knew he’d done some music videos with a similar vibe, so I suspected he might have some footage that we could use…I was really lucky on that.” Hurt sets a brooding tone for “Flindrikin” with misty images of snow-covered mountain peaks, forest-scapes, and grey, crashing waves.

The October release suits Andenine’s gentle, rain-soaked melodies. Originally, Robertson planned to release Adenine in February, but, like so many artists, faced delays because of Coronavirus.

As we face the unknown events of autumn, music like Adenine provides a needed soundtrack for contemplation and creativity. Robertson herself stays busy writing commissioned works, teaching, and preparing to release Adenine.

“Keeping creative keeps me sane [right now],” said Robertson. “I’m glad to be making this type of music.”

Adenine released on October 1. Find it on Bandcamp and Spotify and follow Robertson’s music on her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.


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Written by Sarah Lin Bhatia

Sarah writes in her free time whilst studying digital marketing. Originally from America and now a proud Londoner, her personal motto is: ‘Music, London, life’.

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