Madres

The title of this Berlin-based Peruvian artist’s debut album translates as ‘Mothers’. It’s dedicated to both her mother and the eminent neurosurgeon, Dr Peter Vajkoczy, who heard the title-track on social media and answered the singer’s SOS by operating on her mother’s cancer and extending her life.

A rising star of the Berlin electro scene, Kourtesis has released singles and EPs well enough acclaimed to earn her a front cover on Mixmag. Madres is infused with her ‘hope and the value that big love can create miracles.’ That portentous title-track is all scintillating synths and ethereal voices married to discrete but compelling beats. Discretion, in fact, tempers anything too head-banging throughout. The light and fluffy ‘Si Te Portas Bonito’, for example, reflects ‘the mood of going out, being flirty and meeting a girl I like, or a boy that I like, experimenting with my queerness.’ Tracks like ‘Habla Con Ella’ and especially ‘Funkhaus’ – where the singer found a community of like-minded spirits following her self-imposed exile from the homophobia in Peru – are tailor-made for clubbers. It’s leavened, though, by the kind of Latin flavours found on, say, ‘Estación Esperanza (feat Manu Chao)’, which lift Madres clear of the average.