A former contestant on the Ukrainian edition of The X Factor, Alina Pash used her new-found fame as a launchpad for her uncompromising artistic vision. Born in the country’s Carpathian Mountains, she distils a legacy rarely heard in modern pop into sinuous and unexpected alternative sounds. Mixing ear-catching folk and contemporary lyrical imagery, she shapes her identity via acrobatic vocals and outspoken raps, bubbling electronics and heart-wrenching piano balladry. As Pash states on the powerfully evocative “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors”, she’s out to write her own history.