Zustra

Zustra hints at what James Bond songs of the future might sound like. Born into a family of seafarers on the Mediterranean in Dubrovnik, Ariana Zustra had to flee Croatia at the age of four to escape the war, ending up in Germany. So, divisions are one of the singer-songwriter’s fundamental motifs – or to be more precise, overcoming them. Culture and nature, art and life, that which passes and that which remains. The fact that Zustra has mastered the art of sharp wit as a cultural journalist does not make her artful electro-pop any less sublime – on the contrary. As someone who knows how to avoid comforting clichés, she makes a point of subtly lining the mystic depths of her sound with shards of glass and velvet. Every echo, every noise has something to say. And that’s not even getting to the lyrics. Zustra wants to take pop back to where music has always led: to the really big questions.