Laura Guarch

Laura Guarch is a Catalan vocalist, composer, field recordist and performance maker. Shortlisted in the BBC Sound of the Year Awards 2021 for a field recording of ice melting in Solheimajóküll’s glacier lagoon made with Francesco Fabris, Laura Guarch processes natural sounds of threatened environments and combines them with her voice in original composition.

Her debut album KRËODYLIA was released in 2021 with label Segell Microscopi. The album led to her being shortlisted as best emerging artist in the Catalan music awards Premis Enderrock 2022. The album was described by Spanish Radio 3 DJ Santiago Alcanda as innovative, avant-garde pop music reminiscent of Kate Bush. Krëodylia has been aired on national Radio 3 and Radio 4 including a live show for the latter.

A new commission from OPS-PM in partnership with Sound Earth Legacy in 2022 has sent Laura to record natural sounds in Menorca (Balearic Islands) and led to the release of Vulgia with Sound Earth Legacy.

Guarch’s recordings of Icelandic glaciers, made with the mentoring of Francesco Fabris, will be the source material of her second album, whose music will be purely made of the glacier sounds and Laura’s voice. The project will inhabit a new, contemporary mythology of glaciers exploring the energies, feelings and myths beyond the ice through the creation of an album, a podcast series and an AV live show.

Laura is part of a collaborative team of the research-based project Sound Cartographies to be presented at Sonar in 2023, led by music philosopher Dr Magda Polo.

Laura’s work has been described as mesmerizing (Totally Thames), intimate yet grandiloquent (Revista Enderrock), impressively immersive (When the Horn Blows), deeply spiritual (Musica Cronica), one of undeniable talent (Núvol - el digital de cultura), an exceptional blend of electronics and soundscape (Time Out Barcelona), a stunning voice that makes you travel into another dimension (Islandia - Rac 1).