Madres (Gatefold LP)

Sofia Kourtesis has announced her debut album Madres will be released on 27 October on Ninja Tune. Madres is, unsurprisingly, dedicated to Kourtesis' mother. More surprising though it is also dedicated to world-renowned neurosurgeon Peter Vajkoczy. The story of how a world-renowned neurosurgeon came to appear in the liner notes of this record is one of tenacity, miracles, all-consuming love and ultimately, of hope.

Madres also contains everything that has made Kourtesis so beloved already. The dual sounds of her Peruvian home and her adopted home in Berlin are present ("my heart is very Latin American, but my motor is German"), as is the activism surrounding gender equality, protection of queer people and access to safe abortions in Peru that is so close to her heart. Having left Peru herself due to being ostracised, and ultimately forced into conversion therapy for her queerness, Kourtesis hadn't spoken about the real reason she left Peru before but now she hopes her music and words will resonate with others, her experience sadly, infuriatingly, still commonplace.