Ayla Nereo is an American singer-songwriter, composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, and filmmaker whose music sits at the intersection of folk, electronic music, world music, vocal looping, ambient sound, and contemporary ceremonial music. Her work is especially recognizable for its layered vocals, poetic imagery, acoustic textures, unusual rhythmic phrasing, and strong connection to nature.
Raised in Sonoma County, California, Nereo grew up surrounded by forests and rivers and was homeschooled until high school. Her childhood listening ranged widely—from Cat Stevens and Bob Dylan to ABBA, classical music, opera, Celtic traditional music, and folk song. She later studied psychology in college while also developing interests in dance and filmmaking.
Nereo began writing and performing her own music around 2005–06. Her earliest recordings were intimate and largely acoustic, already displaying the distinctive vocal layering and poetic approach that would become central to her work.
Her lyrics frequently use rivers, roots, forests, animals, moonlight and seasonal cycles as metaphors for human transformation. Rather than straightforward narrative songwriting, Nereo often writes in a fluid, almost incantatory style.
Her concerts developed into highly layered performances involving voice, guitar, vocal looping and electronics. She has appeared at numerous festivals and has toured alongside artists including Rising Appalachia, Trevor Hall, and Nahko and Medicine for the People.
One of Nereo's most important collaborations is Wildlight, her electronic project with producer The Polish Ambassador (David Sugalski).
Wildlight places Nereo's vocals and songwriting inside a more explicitly electronic environment, blending downtempo beats, bass music, world influences and psychedelic production.
Wildlight helped introduce Nereo's voice to a broader electronic and festival audience.
Nereo is also a member of Starling Arrow, an all-female vocal ensemble built around intricate harmony singing. The project emphasizes one of Nereo's strongest musical characteristics: using the human voice as both melody and texture, often allowing multiple vocal lines to interlock like instrumental parts.
Music
2006 — Play Me a Time
2009 — Floating Felt
2012 — BeHeld
2013 — Hers Was as Thunder - With Wildlight
2014 — Hers Was as Thunder (Remixes) - With Wildlight
2014 — Hollow Bone
2015 — Hollow Bone REMIXES
2015 — The Tide - With Wildlight
2016 — The Code of the Flowers2019 — By the Light of the Dark Moon2023: Black Rainbows
2016 — The Tide (Acoustic) - With Wildlight
2016 — The Tide Remixes - With Wildlight
2023 — SOVEREIGN KIN – Book I: The Spark
2023 — Cradle - With Starling Arrow
