Clubbing

In 2007, I bought electronic DJ Felix da Housecat’s album Virgo, Blaktro and The Movie Disco. Some months ago, a mutual friend introduced me to Zhanna, the vocalist featured on my favorite track off the album.

Born and raised in Kiev (Ukraine), Zhanna began expressing her creativity through poetry. Her song compositions came after exposure to the trip-hop sounds of artists like Massive Attack, Portishead, Tricky and David Bowie. But, as time went on in Kiev, Zhanna began feeling the creative constraints of the capital. She longed to meet like-minded, artistic types, so she left to explore other countries.

Zhanna’s search brought her to Sitges, Spain and then Barcelona, where she began performing with a variety of area musicians and developing her trip-hop and electronic sound. On stage, Zhanna is confident, sexy, sassy and visually stunning, something that has sparked comparisons to her electro-pop music counterparts, Roisin Murphy and Alison Goldfrapp, as well as interest from industry producers.

In 2007, Zhanna was invited to Miami to work on Felix da Housecat’s celebrated Virgo, Blaktro and The Movie Disco album. The single she sang on, Like Something for Porno, received worldwide critical acclaim and gave her career a boost—working with Housecat is a serious stamp of approval for any artist in the industry.

In 2008, she released her debut album, Ona, in Spain; the following year she dropped the EP, “Playing Sadist,” the title track off of which is a deliciously sassy electronic single. The single was so well-received that Zhanna recently re-released it with a broad selection of remixes, to the delight of DJs worldwide.

Overflowing with creative energy, this young lady does not stop. She is currently working as a DJ, running a project that helps up-and-coming artists and, as if that weren’t enough, is preparing her next album, the first single off of which will be “DNA.”