n a world that pressures people to constantly improve themselves, Uche Yara makes eerie and compulsive music urging us to get back in touch with what makes us human. The Austrian artist’s sound pulses with an electronic rush and distorted guitar spikiness, all in pursuit of feeling something real. Her message is simple but impactful: “You have every right to be here.” It’s a point born of empathy, but also the beating heart of her desire for fewer people to feel insufficient and to take up a little more space instead.

Yara has given herself the mission of expanding what alternative pop can sound and, more specifically, feel like. She’s musically accomplished but wears it with a light touch, approaching music from a fan’s perspective rather than the classical student she once was. She wants people who hear her ambitious and world-building music to be “possessed” and maybe a little disturbed, too. Her self-produced songs increasingly have what she describes as a “warm darkness”, a vibe that can be difficult to pin down but is undeniable as it seeps in between lyrics about self-perception, social pressure and the desire for genuine human connection.

Sitting in an east London photo studio, her hair tied up and still sporting the sequined tunic and silver trousers she donned for her photoshoot, Yara is relaxed and ready to chat. She speaks with intention, carefully selecting her words and delivering her answers with an assured sense of self-belief. “When I’m in the studio and I write a song, I’m very quick with the essence. When inspiration speaks to me, I write [a song] in 30 seconds,” she says. That impulsive creative process has recently culminated in her debut album ‘Bodyscanner’, a record of primal virtuosity where breakbeats and percussive workouts sit alongside buzzing riffs and idiosyncratic vocals. “Every song on this album felt like it was already living in my body. It was just so intuitive. I hardly felt my brain working.”