Emerging Barcelona-born singer/songwriter and musician Uma is the daughter of a British-born performance artist, who studied art and at Farnham and moved to Spain in 1987. Along with her work as a performance artist, Uma’s mother Denys has been organizing festivals since the emerging Barcelona-born and-based was a little girl. Uma’s father Tew was born in Bangkok to a diplomatic family. He studied economics at Cambridge and eventually returned to Bangkok, where he worked for a non profit hospice and orphanage that took care of those suffering from HIV. — He also taught tai chi course on the side.
Because of her parents’ work, Uma grew up traveling and spending lengthy periods of time in different countries, including Thailand, Greenland and Canada.
Uma received classical violin training when she was four. Along with a musical upbringing that included Joni Mitchell, Buika, Nico, and Ella Fitzgerald, the Spanish-born artist credits her experience traveling and growing up around several different cultures as informing much of her work.
She emerged into the scene in 2020: She collaborated with her partner Salpa on 2020’s “Bring Me The Mountain” double A side. She also has released two EPs, 2020’s debut EP Bel-li and last year’s The Moth & The Dove, which received attention from media outlets like Clash Magazine, Loud & Quiet, The Needle Drop, DIY Magazine, The Line of Best Fit, and Gigwise. She also released two stand-alone singles “Maybe We’ll Wake Up” and a new version of “Nebula” with London‘s Amy May Ellis.
2022 has been busy for the Spanish-born artist: She started the year touring with rising artist Puma Blue. Building upon that momentum, she released “Crocodile,” an atmospheric and swaggering banger that draws from Spanish flamenco guitar, jazz and contemporary pop.
Her latest single, the brooding and breathtakingly gorgeous “Granada” is sonically is one-part dreamy Nick Drake-like psych folk, one-part confessional, troubadour pop centered around strummed, acoustic guitar, Uma’s achingly tender delivery, bursts of atmospheric synths and reverb-drenched percussion. At its core, “Granada” is a swooning, old-fashioned love song that captures the longing, the sick ache, the uneasiness and joy of love.
Interestingly, the song mirrors Uma’s own love story with that of her mother’s. “’Granada’ is the sound of the Underworld, a moody ode to the places we go in love”, Uma explains.
“In a way”, Uma adds, “’Granada’ is as much about their love story as my own, a moment in time where you have nothing left to do but surrender to the journey you are on.”
The album artwork is a photograph of Uma’s mother Denys, in her 20s, taken by a friend around the time that her parents met.
