Photos taken by Regenweibchen Photography.
FUN FACTS
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'I have a collection of very fashionable fleeces, specifically ones with animals on them - the kind normally worn by grannies. In fact one of them actually belonged to my gran. I believe that it was me that started the trend of student hipster types wearing fleeces of this kind.'
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'I'm fairly sure my spirit animal is an owl. Either that or Michael Stipe of R.E.M.'
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'I was once an agony aunt, dishing out love advice on live radio to those in need. I helped a lot of people during this time.'
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Favourite place on planet earth: 'Ok favourite place on earth.... sorry to be awkward but I don't have one. Places are constantly changing and each time I go somewhere it feels different from the last I was there, so I don't feel like I can call one place my favourite. Or maybe I just need to get out and see the world a bit more and I'll find somewhere really special that blows my mind, but it hasn't happened yet.'
In the early autumn of 2017, I was out scouting for street music spots in Edinburgh. I found a great place to try out, but noticed much to my annoyance, that a couple of other musicians were already there! One of the musicians turned out to be Ailsa. The creator of dreamy music act, Ailsa And The Seahorses.
I found myself taking a rare break while I awaited my turn to play. During my break I went from being frustrated, to relaxed. I attribute that entirely to Ailsas soft voice and haunting melodies. I've seen a lot of street musicians and Ailsa has to be ranked up with the best of them.
That day however, seemed doomed to be swallowed and forgotten by time, as I parted off back to Germany.
Luckily, the story didn't end there. The following year in 2018, I returned to Edinburgh and found myself attending my first ever Edinburgh open mic night. Ailsa happened to be performing there.
It was an entirely different experience to the noisy streets of Edinburgh. The room went silent as she gave a very delicate, emotional and enchanting performance, leaving the audience hanging on every word. If you ever notice an Ailsa And The Seahorses concert advertised in your area, make sure you get to the gig!
Ailsa describes her music herself as 'songs to fall asleep to, in the best possible way'. While I certainly didn't fall asleep during either performance! I did find her music to be very calming and relaxing with a sometimes melancholic touch. As my dog, Mel, is currently peacefully asleep however, I presume she agrees with the statement!
The Tossit team filmed Ailsa performing a new song (Wolfsong), in the very beginning of 2019. I also spent 30 minutes blowing bubbles that day, to help capture the bubble photo featured in this article! You can see Ailsas awesome live performance beneath and keep an eye out for the seahorses!