Laura Baruch of Flora Fauna has been writing songs for as long as she can remember and has always instinctively known this was her purpose. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she grew up with a piano in her childhood home, and that’s where it all started. “I was so moved at such a young age by music, and my parents constantly had it playing in the house.”
Early influences spanned from Prince to Whitney Houston and, of course, The Beatles. Nature being eternally her muse, Baruch’s primary aim is to create music that’s healing for her listeners. “I want to do what music always did for me. I want to make people feel good.” With her uniquely captivating voice and straight-from-the-heart lyrics, her songs are medicine for the modern condition, with a beguiling knack for transporting the listener momentarily away from their own reality to somewhere calm, tranquil and yet vibrantly alive.
The Fauna to Baruch’s Flora is her muse and husband, Austrian multi-instrumentalist and producer Peter Kastner. They found each other at Los Angeles College of Music and went on to co-form the indie pop sextet Karmic, best known for their breakout single Higher Self and infectious dance grooves Wisdom Pie and Little Lucille. After nearly two decades living and creating together in Los Angeles, the duo recently relocated to Vienna, where they’re working on Flora Fauna and putting the finishing touches on the first full length Karmic album, due for release in early 2022.
