Alas de Liona

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After the UK Government awarded her a Global Talent Visa to work in the UK, summer 2023 saw Alas de Liona make a life changing move from USA to live full time in Scotland.

She then appeared as a special guest alongside Hamish Hawk and Admiral Fallow at The Proclaimers, Big Top Concerts in June at Kelso Showground, Edinburgh’s Leith Links and Glasgow Queens Park. She also opened for Hamish Hawk at Galashiels MacArts, supported Travis at North Berwick’s Fringe by the Sea and opened for Callum Beattie and Sister Sledge at Party at the Palace in Linlithgow.

September saw headline shows at Glasgow Glad Café and Edinburgh Voodoo Rooms. Alas saw her first gig of 2024 on 1st January as a headline artist in Edinburgh’s First Footin’ Old Town festival.

Alas also went into Post Electric in Leith with her live band and producer Rod Jones to record an 11-song album, Gravity of Gold. Currently finalising business partnerships for release this year.

Alas 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 Scotland 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 2021.

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 400 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.

Two further short returns visits in 2022 saw Alas make her Celtic Connections debut in January opening for Kathryn Joseph and Tinderbox at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall. Then appearances at Edinburgh’s Hidden Door Festival and opening for Rufus Wainwright in Glasgow’s Summer Nights at Kelvingrove Bandstand and her first headline shows at Glasgow’s Glad Café and Edinburgh Voodoo Rooms.

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 November.