Luna (ЛУНА)

There is an interesting new wave of women-led pop in Russian music (e.g.  Liza Gromova, Monetochka) and Luna is something like a fairy godmother to the scene since she’s considered a leading voice of the post-Soviet youth. Born Kristina Viktorovna Bardash in Germany, the 28-year-old indie singer-songwriter and model from Ukraine saw her music career take off in 2015 after a random Facebook post with the music video for her single “Ocen”. The post was shared and less than six months later all her concerts were sold out.

Since 2016, Luna has released three albums, Mag-ni-ty, Ostrov Svobody, and the latest, Zakoldovanniye Sny, which came out earlier in 2018. These past few years, she has cultivated a sultry and sophisticated sound and her musical style has been praised for the combination of electronic music with a melancholy mood, while citing 90s pop culture as a main source of inspiration; especially the Cocteau Twin-like low-key but forceful rhythm that is obvious in most of her songs. Unlike her lustrous mainstream-pop contemporaries, Luna’s music is glamorously heartbroken and quietly powerful, with hypnotic hooks, swooning, ethereal atmospherics and repetitive beats immersed in trance-like lullabies. Hence, it makes it essential to any electro pop and indie pop fan even if you don’t understand a word of Ukrainian.