Lucrecia Dalt

Lucrecia Dalt, a Colombian artist residing in Berlin, makes experimental electronic pop influenced by philosophy, cinema, mythology, and futuristic technology. While her earlier albums, such as 2009's Congost (which was credited to the Sound of Lucrecia), focused more on lyrics and song structures, later works like 2018's Anticlines and Lucy & Aaron (her 2020 collaboration with tape manipulation artist Aaron Dilloway) were far more abstract and surreal, with her sparse vocals melting into alien soundscapes. With 2022's ¡Ay!, she combined bolero and tropical rhythms with science fiction. Dalt studied geology and started working as a civil engineer before deciding to pursue music. Her first release was Acerca, an ambient synth pop album credited to just her first name and released in 2005 by Colombian collective Series. This was followed by Like Being Home, a 2007 EP. Finding the Colombian music scene too limiting, she moved to Barcelona, and found it much easier to cultivate her artistic career. After crossing paths with Gudrun Gut, founder of Monika Enterprise, the Sound of Lucrecia contributed four songs to 4 Women No Cry, Vol. 3, along with Julia Holter, Liz Christine, and Manekinekod. Congost appeared in 2009 and was later reissued under Dalt's full name. In 2011, Dalt released Cuatro Covers, a digital EP produced in collaboration with F.S. Blumm. Her third album, the dark, dreamy Commotus, was released by Human Ear Music in 2012, and was followed by the even stranger Syzygy in 2013. A self-titled EP was released by Nicolas Jaar's Other People imprint in 2014. By 2015, she had relocated to Berlin, and a limited LP titled Ou was released by the German experimental label Care of Editions late in the year. Dalt then appeared on These Moments Dismantled, a 2016 12" by the industrial techno duo These Hidden Hands. Her sixth album, a volume of poetic theory and sound titled Anticlines, appeared on RVNG Intl. in 2018. Following an artist residency in Guachalito, Dalt and Aaron Dilloway released Field Recordings in the Forest of Columbia in March 2020. The solo studio album No era sólida, partially recorded at Ina GRM in Paris and Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, was issued the following September. The next year, Dalt and Dilloway joined forces once again for the collaborative album Lucy & Aaron. Released on Dilloway's Hanson Records imprint in July 2021, the album paired Dilloway's abstract tape loops with Dalt's immersive approach to atmosphere. Two original scores composed by Dalt, The Seed and The Baby, were issued by Invada in 2022. Her next studio album, ¡Ay!, consisted of abstract exotica sung in Spanish, and was released by RVNG Intl. ~ Paul Simpson