Cinematic and confessional, Chinawoman’s songs are tragicomic, melody-driven, sentimental and suspended in shadowy glamour. The daughter of a Kirov ballerina and an engineer from Leningrad, Chinawoman grew up listening to her parents’ collection of Soviet and 70’s European records. Her music has drawn comparisons to Nico and Leonard Cohen, Soviet era singing stars such as early Alla Pugacheva, with a voice akin to Tanita Tikaram.

Decadent, dramatic and earnest, vintage keyboards and synth strings offer the solitary rendition of a grand experience, and the voice always upfront delivers motifs familiar yet impossible to pinpoint from the great soup of European chanson. A genre based partly on elements of melody and style, but moreso, a signature fatalist-celebratory approach to songwriting.

Lisa Alma blends her soothing voice with tranquil piano chords and pulsating electronic beats to create an encapsulating dream pop universe. Her melodramatic aura puts a contemporary spin on ’80’s pop music. The 28 year old music producer and visual artist is based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her incorporation of video and photography help to further realize her musical message.