Berlin is such a hotbed of activity for experimental art. Long established as a hub for innovation and rule-breaking, be it in literature, art, music or film, it’s little wonder that so many artists base themselves in this great city, which allows them to create freely and collaboratively. And what better place for a musician who is just beginning to find their foothold, developing their own style, and making their first forays into the music world? Laurén Maria is one such artist.  Nominally, a folk artist, Maria is blessed with an incredible voice. A voice that she uses to elevate her chosen genre from something familiar to something totally distinctive. Deftly combining her ‘instrument’ with a carefully selected collection of field recordings, distortion, drone and collage, she accompanies the listener on an unpredictable journey of sound and sensation. This aesthetic was evident on her solo debut, 2023’s Leaves Falling Beyond The Sky, but since then she has undeniably upped her game as on the newly released follow-up, You’re Beautiful.

It’s fair to say that since she started releasing music, Maria has been busy. In between her two solo albums (released almost two years to the day apart), she has worked with Ruego label stalwarts and avant-garde black metallists, Diamantista, under the name LICITIR – the two artists bringing together their seemingly diametrically opposed musical styles on Tomorrow We Dream of Sleeping in a Garden of Camellias. Experiencing a different approach to music-making and production has undoubtedly fed into You’re Beautiful as it feels heavier than her first outing - in intensity rather than sound. Leaning into a more industrial abrasiveness at times while maintaining those moments of true sonically ambient beauty.

 The album opens with the inherently folk-laden ‘Floating Point Numbers’ swathed in overlaid female vocal and acoustic guitar arpeggios, before ‘Red Rusty Dawn’ and its slightly dissonant harp (I’m plumping for it being a harp) hint at what is to come with a somewhat off-kilter air. But ‘Filled Up Smile’ marks this more explicitly with a rounded change in direction, things sounding ominous. Distorted electronics hit combined with overlaid voices, glitch, sound effects and screams, before slipping into the calmer albeit still distorted ‘Emblem' and the even more bucolic ‘Loveshaped’. This latter track was a particular highlight as the sounds of the forest mingle with Maria’s delicate, fragile vocals and melodic harp (probably).

On ‘Kissed Poetry’ the industrial sounds return – heavy metal noise, background reverb interspersed with choral voices followed by the more subdued drone of ‘Soaring Portals’. ‘Zephyr’, featuring experimental jazz drummer Ludwig Wandinger is an ambient dream, before we move onto the title track which displays shades of Stick in the Wheel with its indie folk leanings.  The delicate ‘Open Skies In And Draw Me is followed by the dark synthetic Twin Peaks-like ‘Laurel’ before this absolute trip of a record closes with the subtle yet microcosmic ‘Weater Wet.’ Bottom of Form

You’re Beautiful is unpredictable, brave, and engaging. A mesmeric journey intent on wrongfooting its audience and all the better for it.