Once in a while, a voice comes along that just hits differently. “I have been watching The Lord of the Rings consistently for the past years, every year”, says Alkyone.

Listening to the voice of the young songwriter from Edessa makes you travel to distant places you have never seen but miss. All you have to do is listen to her first singles, “Genesis ” and ” Oh, mother”, and her covers of the traditional Epirotian ” My stray birds” and “Aeriko” by Thanasis Papakonstantinou and you will see what we are talking about.

With a dreamy voice, and hints of Björk and Aurora, but with her distinct flavour, Alkyone told Marie Claire she has been playing the piano since she was 7 years old.

“My father plays the piano and I have associated it with my childhood. Even before he enrolled me in the conservatory, I was listening to pieces at home and trying to play them by ear. In addition, it is a polyphonic instrument with which you can express a very wide range of emotions. It’s a whole orchestra in itself .’

About her musical influences and inspirations, she said: “My dad had an amateur band and played traditional music, old folk, and art. But he also listened to a lot of classical music. When I was little, there was always a record playing in the background at home, especially at night, when I was sleeping. Film music also played an important role. I watch “The Lord of the Rings” consistently, a few times a year! I never get bored of it, because it is a complete world made from scratch in one man’s mind. But I also consider his music pure magic, because it transports me elsewhere. In high school, and even more so in university, I also started to like indie, alternative artists. They had another space in music, which pop doesn’t have.”

Spending a lot of time in her parents’ mountain village, outside of Edessa, a city in northern Greece and the capital of the Pella regional unit, in the Central Macedonia region she says “There are some places that you cannot pinpoint. You can’t put your finger on it. You can imagine you are anywhere in the world. There I feel like the Little Prince who has landed somewhere and is looking for his way. Birds inspire me, too – I love to sit and look at the flocks in the sky. Things happen in nature that we are used to not notice.

“In nature, there is peace, harmony, and justice without discrimination, while in our society you wonder why someone else has more or fewer rights than you. I think the world is not made to be unfair.”