Lady Islay
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This track is my personal ode to peaty, smoky Islay Scotch—the first whisky I ever truly loved.
Not tasting notes, but sound: smoke, warmth, breath, rhythm.
Inspiration: Lady Islay
Islay (pronounced Eye-Luh, not Is-Lay, not Eye-Lay) Scotch whisky as a category and style has always been my personal favourite—even back when my palate was completely untrained, over two decades ago. I remember sipping a certain black-label blend with the faintest hint of peat and smoke. I didn’t have the vocabulary for it then, but the flavour stuck with me. It felt… right.
Then came Lagavulin 16.
She didn’t just say hi—she changed everything. Peaty, iodine-rich, smoky—yes—but also mysterious, elegant, seductive. She had depth. She lingered. I kept going back to her, chasing something I couldn’t quite name.
And so began my journey.
From the unmistakable signature of Ardbeg, to the bold madness of Bruichladdich and its 400+ ppm Octomore. From the medicinal growl of Laphroaig, to the exotic refinement of Caol Ila, and finally to the smoky hearth of Bowmore—Islay’s breath became part of mine… knowing there are still so many smoky, briny, fiery wonders yet to be explored.”
This track was born from that love.
I’d been wanting to express that experience in a more personal form—Lady Islay. The name came first.
How else to evoke that exotic, alluring peaty smoke and fruit than with a bamboo-style or shakuhachi-inspired flute—airy, breathy, and modal rather than fully Western in tone? It gives the track its smoky, vaguely Eastern or Egyptian edge without tying it to any one place. It beckons. It tempts. It whispers, closer… closer…
That idea sat with me for the better part of five years, waiting for the right time. I had the vision, the emotional tone, even rough sketches of melody and beat. But I never had the tools—or time—to bring it to life. I hold a Grade 10 RCM in piano, but I’m not a music producer by trade. What changed everything was the era of generative AI—where imagination meets real-time possibility. With ChatGPT and Suno, I could finally prototype, test, fix, and iterate—not over months, but in moments.
This is my love for the world of wines and spirits poured into sound—my way of letting imagination run as it was meant to, and sharing that honestly, transparently.
Lady Islay is the culmination of years of tasting notes—but this time, expressed not in words…
…but in smoke, rhythm, breath, and warmth.
Lyrics
Lady Islay
She don’t love loud.
She lingers.
And she always…
comes… back.
⸻
She walks in slow, with that sea-swept stare
Mist in her breath, salt in her hair
No words—just heat in the midnight air
She’s danger, dressed like a dare
Fingertips glide like smoke on skin
Sips like sin, I let her in
Every glance got me pulled again
She leaves, but she stains where I’ve been
⸻
Lady Islay… moves like smoke through the air
Ash on her tongue…
(closer… closer…)
Eyes say run, but I’m locked in her stare
Touch like a flame…
(closer… closer…)
Storm in her voice, perfume in despair
My past don’t scare her…
(closer… closer…)
Gone by dawn, but her breath still there
One last taste…
(closer… closer…)
⸻
She don’t toast, she test the soul
With a glass in her hand and a heart ice-cold
Her laugh is low, her silence bold
Every lie I told, she already knows
She don’t need to chase, she makes time wait
Sways like tide, seals my fate
No good done, just a shattered state
She bends the light at the garden gate
⸻
[Chorus – repeat]
Lady Islay… moves like smoke through the air
Ash on her tongue…
(closer… closer…)
Eyes say run, but I’m locked in her stare
Touch like a flame…
(closer… closer…)
Storm in her voice, perfume in despair
My past don’t scare her…
(closer… closer…)
Gone by dawn, but her breath still there
One last run…
(closer… closer…)
⸻
I don’t chase her.
I just wait.
She returns like tide.
Like breath.
Like fate.
⸻
Lady Islay…
Ash on her tongue…
(closer… closer…)
Touch like a flame…
(closer… closer…)
One last taste…
(closer… closer…)
…closer.