Alev Lenz

Biography

Alev Lenz was born on January 17, 1982, in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, to a Turkish actress-activist mother and an Oscar-winning German engineer father. Her name means "Flame" in Turkish. Growing up between two cultures — Turkish and German — she absorbed both traditions from childhood; her mother's theatrical world kept the stage close, while her Turkish heritage introduced musical scales outside Western 12-tone tuning. She pursued music despite initial opposition from her father, signing her first publishing deal with BMG Music Publishing in 2001 and performing in a band called "Alev." She later relocated to New York City to develop solo material, playing open mics and shaping her singular voice.

Her debut solo album, Storytelling Piano Playing Fräulein (2009), produced by Don Philippe of German hip-hop group Freundeskreis, introduced her sophisticated chamber-pop aesthetic. A major breakthrough came in 2016 when her song "Fall into Me" appeared in the Black Mirror episode "Hated in the Nation." Her second album, Two-Headed Girl (2017), co-produced with Samuli Kosminen of Icelandic group Múm, deepened her experimental electronics palette. That same year, her collaboration with Anoushka Shankar on Land of Gold earned a Grammy nomination — the first of three. "May the Angels," from her third album 3 (2019), became widely known through its placement in Netflix's Dark. Her 2022 album Milky Way was composed to planetary frequencies, built entirely from remote pandemic-era collaborations, and released on International Day of Human Space Flight.

By the mid-2020s, Lenz had expanded into composing for film, theatre, and premiere classical ensembles. She served as composer-in-residence at the Grammy-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus, composed seven pieces for vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth premiered at London's Barbican Centre (2023), and scored her debut feature film Im Nachtlicht and a production at London's Almeida Theatre (2024). She also contributed vocals to Volker Bertelmann's Oscar-nominated score for Conclave. Her fourth solo album, 4 in a Cycle of Thirds (January 2026), features 11 tracks each anchored to a different chromatic note — her most experimental, minimalist work to date. Critics have compared her ethereal vocalscapes to Björk's Medúlla and the drone music of La Monte Young; she has lectured at USC Thornton, NYU, Trinity Laban, and Berklee College of Music.

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Fun Facts

• Her name 'Alev' means 'Flame' in Turkish — she is Turkish-German, daughter of a Turkish actress-activist mother and an Oscar-winning German engineer father, though the specific Oscar project is not publicly named.
• Her 2022 album Milky Way was composed using planetary frequencies (a concept rooted in ancient musica universalis theory) and released on April 12 — International Day of Human Space Flight — built entirely from remote collaborations during the pandemic.
• Her 2026 album 4 in a Cycle of Thirds uses an unusual compositional constraint: 11 tracks, each anchored to a different chromatic note, drawing comparisons to minimalist composers like Arvo Pärt and Steve Reich.
• She has taught and lectured at USC Thornton, NYU, Trinity Laban, and Berklee College of Music, and founded the REcompose Competition at SA Recordings to support emerging composers.

Associated Acts

• Alev - lead vocals, original (until 2005)

Musical Connections

Mentors/Influences

• Sezen Aksu - Legendary Turkish pop singer introduced through family; formative cultural influence on Lenz's approach to Turkish musical traditions
• Anoushka Shankar - Key professional influence; Lenz described working with her as 'an incredible eye opener regarding craftsmanship, dedication, friendship and a new insight into her own cultural heritage'

Key Collaborators

• Anoushka Shankar - Co-wrote and co-produced Land of Gold (2016, Grammy nominated) and Love Letters (2020, Grammy nominated); central long-term creative partnership (Land of Gold, Love Letters) [2016–2022]
• Samuli Kosminen - Co-produced Two-Headed Girl; member of Icelandic group Múm (Two-Headed Girl)
• Jas Shaw - Mixed Two-Headed Girl; long-time collaborator on multiple projects; member of Simian Mobile Disco (Two-Headed Girl) [2017–ongoing]
• Volker Bertelmann - Alev contributed vocals to his scores including The Old Guard, Stowaway, Against the Ice, Downhill, and Oscar-nominated Conclave (Conclave, The Old Guard, Against the Ice) [2020–2024]
• Aisling Urwin - Collaborator on Milky Way album, built from remote pandemic-era recordings (Milky Way)

External Links

• Spotify
• Wikipedia
• MusicBrainz