Diana Tejera is a Rome-born and-based Spanish-Italian multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter and producer. Tejera can trace the origins of her music career to her childhood: she started studying the piano when she was nine and guitar when she turned 13.
In 1997, she went to CET Mogol, where she studied composition. The following year, her career started in earnest when she joined pop duo Pink! The duo’s first album Sixtematicamente, which Tejera wrote herself, was released to critical praise.
By 2000, Pink! expanded into a quartet — and then rebranded themselves as Plastico. That same year, Plastico won the 11th San Marino Festival with “Strani sintomi,” which was written by Tejera. The band went on to write and record Sensible al tatto, an effort they supported with a tour opening for Lúnapop — and a national tour across Italy.
In 2002, Plastico appeared at the 52nd Sanremo Festival, where they performed the Tejera penned “Fruscìo. They then released incontri casuali, which was also written by Tejera.
By 2003 Plastico broke up and Tejera went forward with a solo career that featured original material, as well as collaborations with a number of fellow Roman artists, including Tiziano Ferro. Her collaboration with Ferro lead to “E fuori è buio,” which appeared on Ferro’s 2006 album Nessuno è solo and “Scivoli di nuovo,” which appeared on 2008’s Alla mia etá.
Tejera is also an composer for short and feature-length films. Her work on Francecso Colangelo’s short films L’ultimo passo, il male assoluto, and La decima onda have won several awards.
The Spanish-Italian artist’s latest EP Aún was released last month. The EP, much like her forthcoming full-length album features material written and sung in English, Spanish and French. Interestingly, a number of Aún‘s songs have appeared on Rai3’s Kilimangiaro.
The EP’s latest single “Volveré” is sleek and slickly produced bit of pop centered around glistening synths arpeggios, skittering beats, a relentless motorik groove paired with Tejera’s yearning vocals. The end result is a glittering bop that may remind some listeners of Little Boots and others — but that focuses on coming back to someone, which gives the song a euphoric yet relieved air.
