Hailing from the east coast island of Newfoundland, a hotbed for some of Canada’s best storytellers and creative writers, Ashley grew up on the rugged shores of the North Atlantic Ocean, more than 200km from the province’s only city.
Citing this beautiful and untainted landscape as the primary inspiration for her current release, Take Back the Fire, Ashley’s award-winning songs are saturated with colourful imagery and cleverly knit lyrics.
Crisp and intimate vocals give life to playful melodies which sit comfortably within the warm, mellow folk-country instrumentation of her band’s performance. Airy guitars, driving banjo, smooth fretless bass lines, sparkling keys, and gentle, shuffling rhythms heighten and enrich Ashley’s tender songwriting style, culminating in a sound that is at once earthy and ethereal.
David Farrell of Canadian entertainment blog NewCanadianMusic.com credits Fayth with having “a voice as clear and as beautiful as Waterford crystal,” and with “writing songs that are guileless enough to make you smirk and blush. In fact, it is not hard to call her sweetheart”.
Her 2014 EP, I am the Bird, was Ashley’s first UK release. Songs from the record were featured on BBC Radio Merseyside and BBC Radio Lancashire, and the EP was named to a weekly list of Best Canadian Releases by leading Canadian Music blog, New Canadian Music. Peter Kearns of Toronto’s Snob’s Music commended both the title track’s “deep mature sound,” and the “slightly cutesy, Feist-ish delivery on the charming Seaside.”
Songs from her previous album, Wonder Wonder were featured on BBC Radio 2, CBC Radio, and on more than 100 regional and national stations worldwide, at one point charting on college radio stations in the USA. The album’s first single, Peanut Butter, picked up awards from both Universal Music and the Canadian Songwriters Association, and was included alongside The Civil Wars and Los Lonely Boys on a compilation released by Inspire Entertainment in the U.S.A.
Ashley has played showcases at CMJ in New York, South by Southwest in Austin, Texas; and Canadian Music Week in Toronto, and has been touring independently in addition to representing Canada on the International Songwriters Tour in North America. Recent tour dates in the UK have included Liverpool SoundCity, Kendal Calling, and Festival No.06.
In 2016, Ashley formed The Compass Rose and released the full-band album, “Take Back the Fire”.