Where were you born?
Los Angeles
What’s your favorite soundtrack to a movie?
Trainspotting
What would you say your spirit animal is and why?
I have many but the snake is a big one for me because it represents healing, transformation and creativity. They are always showing up and reminding me to shed my skin so I can be reborn again and again.
Bio
Flora Fauna’s Laura Baruch 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.” Nature being eternally her muse, Baruch’s primary aim is to create music that’s healing for her listeners. 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 Laura’s Flora is her collaborator and husband, Austrian multi-instrumentalist and producer Peter Kastner. They found each other in Los Angeles and went on to co-form the indie pop collective Karmic, best known for their breakout singles ‘Higher Self’ and ‘Wisdom Pie’. After the release of Karmic’s ‘Disco Submarine’, the duo relocated to Vienna to devote themselves fully to Flora Fauna.
Success followed quickly. 2021’s debut single, ‘Our Way Home’, was immediately licensed for major ad campaigns with Vodafone and OEBB, and the ‘Our Way Home (Re-Work)’ with BUNT. clocked up two Spotify Editorial Playlist placements and over 100,000 streams in less than a month. ‘The Mother’ – the lead single from her debut album – was immediately placed in the Hallmark channel show ‘The Way Home’ on its release in February 2023.
After four years in Vienna and with a full length album poised for release, the duo moved back to Los Angeles in fall 2024 to reunite with their Bad Owl family. With help of various Bad Owl friends and co-creators, they plan to bring Flora Fauna to life in a live setting, with plans for shows in LA and a European tour in 2025.
Fun fact: Laura is a certified reiki energy healer. She was taught by her mother who is a reiki master and shaman.
