Shay Mace
Scottish singer-songwriter and composer Siobhan Wilson will bring her immersive and intimate gig theatre show FLOWERCORE to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe next month, exploring under-told tales of Scotland’s wildflowers through music and projection. Across the hour, Wilson and special musical guests including Niamh Corkey and Charm of Finches play the notes of Scotland’s untamed spaces and soils, alongside an immersive projection by Double Take Projections featuring videography by Ewan Grant of Edge Photography. The projection features illustrations, video and photography by a range of artists working in the Scottish landscape. We caught up with Siobhan for a pixelated pint to find out what’s made the show bloom at EdFringe this year.
You can catch FLOWERCORE at Basement at The Gilded Saloon on August 17th – 22nd from 15:00 (60mins). Tickets are available through the Gilded Balloon Online Box Office.
Shay: Hi Siobhan, tell us about how the show relates to the unsung histories of Scottish wildflowers and Scotland’s ecology, and why you have decided to bring this to the stage now?
Siobhan: hi 🙂 FLOWERCORE and the show’s music looks at my relationship with wildflowers in Scotland and the impact they had on me during a pivotal time in my life where spending time among wildflowers allowed me to feel like I belonged. I wanted to share the songs from this experience in a live show! While I don’t literally share a biological ecology with wildflowers because I don’t photo-synthesise or compete for shared soil, recognising that i belonged to the same eco system as wildflowers brought me into a shared world with them, brought a lot more significance to my life and they healed some of my anxiety.
Humanity relies heavily on the broader interconnected ecosystem that wildflowers support and I spent time sharing space with them, paying attention to them. They are a source of musical inspiration but also I’m just in awe of them. Wildflowers helped me to feel more connected to my surroundings and FLOWERCORE as a project connects my music to the experience.
Shay: How has the creative process been of putting the show together? Give us an idea of the journey you’ve been on with it so far.
Siobhan: FLOWERCORE is a continuously inspiring and ongoing creative process for me because wildflowers have inspired three albums of music. FLOWERCORE at the Ed fringe is really exciting because I get to collaborate with visual artists as well as musicians on stage. There will be projected images of wildflowers during the show and very beautiful singers on stage with me. I feel lucky to bring my love for wildflowers on to a live stage
Shay: What will be the first thing the audience sees, feels, and hears as they enter the space?
Siobhan: I hope that audiences will find a colourful and ethereal sensory corner of nature in the centre of a city, a little bit of a respite from busy streets of the afternoons of the Edinburgh Fringe, downstairs of Gilded Saloon.
Shay: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?
Siobhan: I hope they will want to spend time with wildflowers, inspired to feel a connection to nature.
Shay: What journey has the show been on to find itself at EdFringe 2026?
Siobhan: FLOWERCORE has been recorded as music in 3 volumes and is now making its way onto the fringe for the first ever time!!
Shay: With EdFringe now just around the corner, what are you most excited for?
Siobhan: I’m incredibly excited to sing harmonies on stage with incredible vocalists Niamh Corkey and Charm of Finches because our vocals intertwine in a way that feels really harmonious, magical and musically satisfying. As someone who is completely obsessed with music I’m so lucky to have these amazing singers on stage with me and in such an intimate setting where we can share the space with a seated audience.
Shay: Given the themes of Binge Fringe, if your show was a beverage of any kind (alcoholic, non-alcoholic – be as creative as you like!), what would it be and why?
Siobhan: FLOWERCORE would definitely be Machair Herbal Infision from Tiree Tea! It has nettle, mallow flowers, and red cornflowers and sunflower petals inside! Machair is the Scottish Gaelic word for vibrant flower-rich coastal landscape . Faerie Glen Tea by Donnie’s Tablet Shed in the Isle of Skye is also brilliant.
A reminder, you can catch FLOWERCORE at Basement at The Gilded Saloon on August 17th – 22nd from 15:00 (60mins). Tickets are available through the Gilded Balloon Online Box Office.
