Wills Power

Ainslie Wills might be about to launch her new single, Stop Pulling The String, the second from her upcoming debut album and the follow-up to the gushed-about Fighting Kind, but she's already setting her sights on the year ahead. Appearing to be finding her feet in both her professional and personal life, Wills is making the most of her time off touring to work on composing.

“I've been trying to write as much as I can lately. Sometimes between playing live shows and rehearsing and stuff like that, you just can't fit it in. I've moved around a couple of things in my house so I've got a dedicated writing space,” she explains, sounding satisfied. “In my mind, I'm looking into the next twelve months, with the record coming out next year. Once that's out we'll be touring it, obviously, but then I want the momentum to keep going, so that's why I've been getting into writing a little bit more, which is good.”

However, Wills has come across those who think the term 'organised musician' is an oxymoron and it's a stigma she thinks is nonsense. “People think you can't actually have both. Speaking specifically about having a career in a creative industry, you really have to look at it as a long-term thing and plan ahead, otherwise you can find yourself anywhere.” She admits that she hates using the words 'creative' and 'business' in the same breath, but the reality is that music is her chosen profession and hey, a woman needs a roof over her head and food in her belly. “I made that choice to be in this kind of industry and that's definitely not an easy thing to do if you're constantly feeling like you're putting lots in and sometimes you don't see the fruits of your labour straight away, but you do see it eventually. Yeah, that's my rant!”

Listening to Wills' releases chronologically – from her 2007 self-titled debut EP, to a 2010 EP called Somebody For Everyone, to her most recent album previews – feels almost like reading her journal entries. Her intricate and layered compositions, once mournful and melancholy, grew more and more defiant and confident in tone and message, paving the way for the overarching theme of “standing up for what you believe in and what you are” that is intertwined throughout her debut album, You Go Your Way, I'll Go Mine.

“When I did my first EP, from a personal point of view, I was in an interesting relationship; I'll put it that way! I don't think I was very happy, as you can probably hear.” Then, as time moved on, inevitably so did she. “You grow up and become more comfortable with yourself. By getting out of certain situations, you are empowered by that because you've made a choice and it's the right thing for you.”

As well as an evident evolution in her outlook, reflected in her lyrics and the subject matter of select songs, the new album sees Wills exploring cinematic, textural sounds with strong influence from decades past. It also marks a new songwriting process for Wills, courtesy her collaboration with her long-time guitarist Lawrence Folvig, whom she had met while they were both studying at VCA. For her EPs, Wills composed all the parts of a song herself, including Folvig's guitar parts, but they shared writing duties on numerous tracks on You Go Your Way, I'll Go Mine.

“Thankfully, it's evolved from having played lots of shows together and just keeping that relationship going, in that we've been able to really trust each other enough to start making the songs together and sharing that responsibility. The title is very much about us coming together with our creative ideas and creative processes; going the same direction in a parallel kind of style, I suppose. We're lucky we don't need to discuss much. We can say it through the music, which is really nice.”

With eyes straight ahead and a clear head (and writing) space, Wills seems like she's never been more sure of where she wants to go and how to get there, and it shows in her music. Here's to the future.