Masha Qrella

German electro singer/songwriter Masha Qrella makes music that borrows equally, and effortlessly, from folk, pop, and her homeland's burgeoning electronic music scene. The daughter of a Russian physicist father and a German somnologist mother, Qrella's career began in the late '90s when, inspired by the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:3Rj0tDHoX7C5NFq5DKIpHt">Stereolab</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4ZgIWfyg9BkcqnJJ2xVR3f">Mouse on Mars</a>, she played with the bands <a href="spotify:artist:6S3ePlzqgbZ6P3vAzHqQSo">Mina</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:14epVmvJSkurE9Jj0m5AEG">Contriva</a>. In the early 2000s, she came into her own as a solo artist, releasing the single I Want You to Know and her debut album, Luck, on <a href="spotify:artist:1T48eW2iZNOo834wEdlopV">Gudrun Gut</a>'s Monika label, and touring with the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:1OmdWpAh1pucAuZPzJaxIJ">Calexico</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:5RbFACKC7XvaFNyRXskOob">ISO68</a>. She continued to work with former <a href="spotify:artist:6S3ePlzqgbZ6P3vAzHqQSo">Mina</a> bassist/engineer Norman Nitzsche, with whom she built her own studio, Villa Qrella. Qrella worked on various projects, including the soundtrack to the film Kleinruppin Forever, remixes, and one-off tracks for compilations while she worked on her second solo album, Unsolved Remained, which was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Morr+Music%22">Morr Music</a> in 2005. That year, her first album with the project <a href="spotify:artist:7wnNkQ2VmuIMHAlWMvRZYG">NMFarner</a> arrived, followed by another in 2006. After a U.S. tour and a <a href="spotify:artist:14epVmvJSkurE9Jj0m5AEG">Contriva</a> reunion, Qrella released 2009's Speak Low, which featured her take on songs by <a href="spotify:artist:69a1b61a56mJlx8iAUMBsY">Kurt Weill</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6vSV6SDf1vteodhgV83AJ6">Frederick Loewe</a>. On 2012's Analogies, she delivered her poppiest set of songs yet. A year later, her cover of <a href="spotify:artist:7bu3H8JO7d0UbMoVzbo70s">the Cure</a>'s "Boys Don't Cry" was issued as a 7" single on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Morr+Music%22">Morr Music</a> sublabel <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22A+Number+of+Small+Things%22">A Number of Small Things</a>. In 2016, Qrella returned to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Morr%22">Morr</a> proper with her fifth full-length, Keys. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi