‘I’VE always liked to make noise,” Brooke Combe says with a smile. She’s speaking to us from her home in Edinburgh during a rare break from tour rehearsals for her recently released debut album Dancing At The Edge Of The World.
“I got a drum kit when I was about five, one of those toy ones,” she continues, recalling her early introduction to making noise.
“Then weirdly, I transitioned from drums to trombone and had lessons for about three-and-a-half years. I’ve always played piano because there was one in my gran’s house but guitar was a little bit harder for me. I picked it up maybe three separate times and just felt like I was not clicking with this instrument. And then one day, it just clicked.”
With a home environment that was steeped in the sounds of soul, Combe believes this helped shape her musical identity far more than the indie-heavy scene that surrounded her where she grew up in Dalkeith.
“I don’t dislike that type of music but it’s not my first choice,” she says. “But soul and R&B were big, big, big in my house. And on a Sunday, when there were cleaning days, the CD player would be cranked.”
The genre has been central to Combe’s artistic expression, and it’s within the framework of soul that she has truly found her voice as a musician. She describes herself as someone who needs to dance, and the rhythmic grooves of soul and disco resonate deeply with her. “I don’t know if it’s because I’ve just grown up with the grooves, but if there’s something to make my hips swing, I’m there.”
Being brought up on videos of artists like Michael Jackson also helped play a pivotal role in influencing her performance style, but this was further solidified through her studies in music, during which doing a live performance was a requirement of her degree. Soon after that, however, she was on stage at King Tut’s and what followed was her stirring debut single Are You With Me?, which marked a real turning point in her career.
“I remember when it came out, I was very, very excited, because I’d actually had a mad experience a couple of years before,” Combe explains, referencing a disheartening early experience where her songwriting was taken without credit. “I was maybe 16 at the time, just dead young and naive,” she says. For this reason, Are You With Me? was a statement of ownership and artistic control, and a moment of validation, proving she had the power to tell her own story, on her own terms.
A crucial element of her career so far and her journey towards her debut album has been the partnership forged with James Skelly of The Coral, whom she connected with through her manager (and Skelly’s brother), Alfie. Their collaboration thrives on balance – Skelly’s relaxed approach complements Combe’s perfectionist tendencies, teaching her to embrace spontaneity in songwriting.
Combe feels strongly that his experience has provided her with a sounding board for experimentation, allowing her to refine her craft without overthinking.
This is easy to hear on Dancing At The Edge Of The World, an album that is raw and engaging in equal measure. The record emerged from a deeply personal space and was written during a tumultuous period following her departure from Island Records. Combe is refreshingly candid about this experience, emphasising her desire not to sugarcoat things.
“You’re signed to a major label because of what they’ve heard from you already without the label being involved. So they’re signing on the pretences of what you’ve already done, which is a great first ego boost, right? Because you’re like, ‘Oh, well I’ve obviously got something that they like’.
“I can only speak from experience, but at 21, I was pretty much sent to London multiple times to do songwriting with producers and songwriters, which is great. Being a 21-year-old girl on your own in London, meeting men you’ve never met, isn’t great, though. And I didn’t feel there was anybody really checking up on that side of things.”
When she voiced her desire to embrace her heritage and move beyond being labelled as a “white indie singer”, it became clear that her vision no longer aligned with the label’s expectations.
Parting ways with Island Records was liberating, however.
“The minute we parted ways, that album wrote itself,” she says. “Because all my self-belief came back, and I really needed that at the time. I’m a mixed-race, half-Scottish, half-African woman and that’s the way I want to be seen. They wanted to mould me into this thing but nah, I’ve got my people to tell a story for as well.”
Immediately, the songs flowed more freely, reaffirming her artistic instincts. As a result, Combe was able to dig deeper into themes of identity and heritage, which she had done previously on her eight-song mixtape Black Is The New Gold, which earned her a SAY Award nomination in 2023.
“I think it’s important because I am a mixed-race person who grew up feeling really white and really, really not in touch with my Black side,” she says of the significance of this subject matter. “And obviously, being from Edinburgh, it’s not that multicultural, especially in the little suburbs outside of the city. But sometimes when I speak to my gran from Sierra Leone, and I hear her stories about how she came to this country, I’m like wow, you’ve done that, Gran, so your kids could have a better life. And if it wasn’t for you trekking across the Sahara Desert, I wouldn’t even be alive. I feel like I owe myself the journey.”
Learning more about her Sierra Leonean grandmother’s story, she felt a new-found responsibility to explore and celebrate that history. Even something as simple as embracing her natural hair became a noteworthy step in self-acceptance.
“I never even embraced my afro until I was 20,” she shares. “I used to grow up being the only person of colour in my class at school, and I’d look around at everybody else’s hair, and they’d have really neat hair. And I’d think, ‘Well, my natural hair is really, really not neat, and it’s messy, and that must be bad then’. You get a bit older and you realise, an afro’s sexy – why was I doing that?”
Between Black Is The New Gold and Dancing At The Edge Of The World, Combe’s sound has undeniably matured, partly due to the circumstances that influenced the new album. At the time, she was bearing witness to a lot of mental abuse occurring in her life.
“I felt a bit conflicted because I was like, is this my story to tell? Equally, it is because I’m living through it. It was just my circumstances at the time, and it was staring me so clean in the face that I thought, it’s ridiculous if I don’t write about this.”
Though fans often interpret her lyrics as reflections on relationships, the songs stem from her lived experiences, making the album feel like a form of therapy. Combe recognises that her music strikes a chord with listeners facing similar challenges.
“I had this guy come to the in-store tour,” she recalls, “and he opened up to me about how he suffers from PTSD and a couple of my tunes, the rhythms of them, actually help him breathe, which I thought was really interesting. As somebody with depression and anxiety myself, I know how things like that can help you cope. So to be somebody’s coping mechanism, it’s touching.”
While Black Is The New Gold was introspective and heavily personal in its dissection of heartbreak, her latest work expands outwards, incorporating other perspectives.
“I’ve also tried to make it a little bit more uplifting and upbeat because I wanted to add more of a northern soul feel. So I’d say you can clearly see genre development in the chords we’ve used in this new album, the lyrics we’ve used, the melodies I’ve gone for, even the instrumentation and how we recorded the album – we recorded it as a live band to tape. We had three takes of each song and that was it. So it was very, very raw and authentic.”
Dancing At The Edge Of The World is a confident release, full of warmth and wistfulness but through its soulful grounding, Combe is hopeful that it may help remind listeners of the rich history of soul music in Britain and its lasting impact.
“I want them to know that music like this is still being made in Britain. Give it an opportunity. Give it a chance. Go and support, bring it back. You loved it once upon a time, and we’ve still got northern soul clubs down in Bristol and Wigan. So the people want it, we just need to make it bigger again.”
As she gears up for her next tour, which includes a date at the Barrowlands, it’s evident that Combe feels more optimistic than ever. The years of experience have shaped her into a performer who fully owns the stage, embracing the connection with her audience.
“As a performer, I think with this next tour, we’ll probably see the biggest development because I feel like I’m at my most self-assured,” she says of the upcoming shows. “I started this when I was like 20 so it is mad when I think about it, but I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned how to be myself. I’ve learned to not be fake. And I’ve also learned not to panic now – my gigs are my gigs, people are coming to see me, and I need to remind myself of that.”
For emerging musicians that may be following her path, Combe is keen to highlight the importance of having a strong support system. “You need somebody to lean on, especially if you’re a solo artist,” she explains. “If you’re a band, you’ve got your bandmates and that is easier. But as a solo artist, you need that person, whether that be your producer, whether that be somebody in your live band.”
She also believes that staying true to oneself is paramount and in her own journey going forward, she refuses to conform to industry pressures for the sake of money or exposure.
“How am I going to feel about myself stooping to that level?,” she says, stressing how authenticity is at the heart of her artistry.
“It’s not about money for me. It’s not about exposure or radio play. It’s about making music I love. And I think if you’re going to get into this industry, ask yourself why you’re doing it first. Because you reap what you sow. I really believe that what you put into something is what you’ll get out.”
Despite receiving numerous accolades since her debut in 2021, it’s clear from our conversation that Combe remains grounded. She views awards and nominations as confidence boosters rather than definitive markers of success, understanding how fleeting industry recognition can be.
“I can be quite bad,” she begins, “because I’ve always been the person who needs a kick up the arse. I need to be told you need more confidence in yourself, or you need to believe in yourself a bit more. So I think that’s why I have a hard time wrapping my head around things like accolades, and I don’t like to look too deeply into it because things can change overnight.”
For her, the true reward is creating music that resonates with people.
“In this industry, if I’m being totally honest, there have been a couple of moments where I’ve felt I’ve been told, in a roundabout way, to suppress how I’m feeling at the time. And it’s not until I’m getting a little bit older, a little bit more mature, maybe a little bit better at communicating how I feel that I just realise that is so stupid.
“I’ve got a platform, other people are looking up to me.”
With this in mind, Combe also acknowledges the uniqueness of her position in Scotland’s music scene. As a mixed-race Scottish artist in the soul genre, she stands out, but she also hopes to see more diversity and representation in the future.
“Sometimes I think, do I need a London accent?” she says of feeling self-conscious about her identity. “Is that why I’m not breaking through enough – is it the Scottishness? But then, how many mixed-race Scottish lassies are in the soul scene? So it’s cool, but at the same time, I’d like to see more of it in the Scottish landscape.”
When asked about soul in 2025, Combe points to artists like Jalen Ngonda, Raye, Lady Wray, and Michael Kiwanuka as key figures keeping the genre alive and evolving. She appreciates how contemporary artists are blending old-school influences with new sounds, ensuring that soul music remains relevant while honouring its roots.
All in all, with a tour on the horizon and plans to keep recording, Combe is excited about the future and the prospect of bringing her music to more audiences while being able to stay true to herself. Fans can expect more innovation, tender performances, and a deep commitment to the soul and northern soul traditions that have shaped her musical journey.
“I feel good. Sometimes I come to a dead stop, and I’m deflated and drained, and then I’m just like, nah, what I’m doing is good. I’ve got to remind myself that people believe in it. Just keep telling myself that it’s worth it. I am doing something different and it is worthwhile.”
As well as being drawn to making noise from a young age, the singer-songwriter has amassed plenty of figurative noise in recent years thanks to her sumptuous blend of soul and R&B. With the release of Dancing At The Edge Of The World though, it feels as if people are finally ready to listen.
