ILA

ILA is Ilayda Cicek (vocals/guitar), Cas Kinnaer (drums), Sam Smeets (bass) and Mattias Stynen (guitar). In 2022 the band won De Nieuwe Lichting on Studio Brussel with breakthrough single Leave Me Dry, which also spent three weeks at number 1 in De Afrekening. Following mini album Felt (2022), debut album Ayna was released in 2024 on PIAS, featuring hit singles All Again and Make It Easy. Since then, ILA has performed on stages of renowned festivals, such as Rock Werchter, Pukkelpop and Lokerse Feesten, in addition to Lowlands and Into The Great Wide Open in NL. Two years after debut album Ayna, ILA returns with sophomore album Motherland, making the band fronted by Ilayda Cicek sound bigger and more ambitious than ever. Recorded with top producer Mikko Gordon (Idles, The Smile), the album was inspired by Cicek’s father and the elements of nature, which run as a leitmotiv through an album that eventually is about all of us. Motherland is out this fall. The first single of the album is In My Heart: an up-tempo indie rock song about clinging to a love that has already burned out, and finding the strength to choose yourself. As such it’s a song, and by extension a whole album, about all of us. About those who keep going, even when pieces of our hearts are missing. It’s about the warmth and belonging we find again in new places, new loves, and new hopes.