KRAAK FEST 2026 HIGHLIGHTS: Ailie Ormston

The title of your most recent album “Frames that lean, pictures that roam” feels very meaningful. Who or what do you lean on? And where have you been roaming?  

I wanted the title to reflect how I approach music-making; I often set limitations – a framework, whether it be materials, tools, particular instruments. Creating parameters makes me feel more creative, because there’s a boundary to work within, which I then ultimately rebel against, or lean away from – I cycle through these stages multiple times during a project. It’s a bit of an illusion I create for myself to generate momentum.  

In terms of roaming, the small fragments of field recordings I was using felt like photos – a snapshot of a time/place. Physically I was stretching and pulling these from their original form, letting details like rhythm, pitch, shape, roam free beyond their captured state, whilst simultaneously being made up of all the same matter. It felt like taking something 2D and making it multidimensional, and exploring what more can be found within a supposedly flat/fixed thing. Over the last few years, the way I make music feels more like painting, or what I would want painting to feel like, if I were a painter!  

Your collaborations with Tim Fraser and Finlay Clark are how you first came to our attention, and your solo record has many masterly helping hands. Have you always worked from a collaborative mindset?  

I spent much of my teenage years listening to and playing music by myself, which I see as a core part of my relationship to music, but then I felt stuck. My imagination really opened up when I began to play and write music with other people in my late teens/early 20’s – it was magical, difficult and important. I met Tim at this early point actually, who I have learned so much from over the years, and who I love making music with. Since then, I’ve learned how valuable it is to talk about, share, and engage with music with and by peers, and generally how energising it is to be a part of a collaborative ecosystem across cities and different music communities.  

The songs on that album were created by “processing fragments of improvised recordings using household objects and instruments.” Did you make these recordings in one go, or did you collect them gradually? What is your recording process like? 

Some of those initial materials had been recorded on my phone, sitting stagnant for 9 months. When I started using these, I got a clearer idea of where I wanted to go with it, so I then recorded more intentional improvisations with instruments and objects, in close succession. I like to build banks of materials that I can sift through, edit and process in a fast moving, spontaneous manner, that I then draft blueprints from. Then, the production process feels more like arranging, collaging, re-recording, responding to these blueprints, slowly refining and tidying up.  

In contrast, how do you feel about performing your work in a live setting? Do you have a preference for one process over the other?  

It’s often a bit of a challenge for me to figure out how my music works live. The body of music I’ll be performing at KRAAK was written last year with the live iteration being the priority – usually I don’t prioritise what a live show will look like – so this was a different approach for me, that I felt I needed to try out. I’m pleased with how it has turned out and I’m excited to show it at KRAAK.  

Have you got anything exciting coming up that you’d like to share?  

The music I will be playing is coming out as an album called 'Impressions on and of guitar’ on OVER/AT [now on pre-order!], a label and programming org based in Scotland. I’m also showing a new string quartet written for JACK Quartet in New York on March 20th, and have a residency at Cafe Oto in the summer.

Find Ailie on Instagram // Bandcamp // Web

Ailie Ormston brings their assembled sonic jumbles to KRAAK Festival 2026 this March 14 at Het Bos, Antwerp. Tickets here!