Maria Argiro Chiara * Forest City CD [Digipak]

Maria Chiara Argiro (pronounced ma-REE-ah key-AH-rah r-gee-ROW) has been quietly weaving her way around the UK jazz, classical and electronic worlds since she moved to London from Rome 11 years ago. A pianist from the age of nine and a key player in the capital's multi-national jazz scene, she's lent her skills to indie band These New Puritans, lush jazz troupe Kinkajous and, more recently, collaborations with Jamie Leeming - their 2020 album Flow was nominated for one of the albums of the year in the Jazz Revelations Awards and was the Guardian's jazz album of the month - and beat-driven duo Moonfish.But with her new album, Forest City, she finds a glistening thread between these movements: it marks her out as an exciting rising electronic artist, where jazz meets Kelly Lee Owens, Jon Hopkins and Radiohead. It's a concept record, about the "duality of nature and city", and where organic sounds and textures seem to flow above the urban sprawl.