Luster is the quality of shining – the way light catches on a surface and holds your attention. It’s through this shimmering lens that Maria Somerville reflects on her Irish homeland in her debut album, Luster. Originally from Connemara in County Galway, Somerville grew up deep in the countryside before moving to Dublin to study and cultivate her experimental dream-pop sound.

The album builds a world of shoegaze, post-punk, and ambient electronics, where place and feeling are wrapped around each other. “There was lots of fermentation,” she recalls of the years leading up to the album. “I went down a lot of different paths until it finally felt complete – building the bricks of this project took a while.” Alongside building Luster, she hosted her monthly NTS Radio show, The Early Bird Show, and took to the road supporting hypnagogic-pop group Chanel Beads.

Now with the release of Luster (Remixes), the artist opens her sound to collaborators while staying rooted in her familiar droning ambience. It’s like Luster, if you try to recall it from a dream. In track “Projections,” featuring Maya McGrory (Colle) of Chanel Beads, plucked strings and a lone acoustic guitar pair up with the glittering electronics of Somerville’s vocals. The winds pick up in Fatshaudi’s remix of “Up,” which layers waltz-like beats and shimmering synths, while Japanese rock band Boris’ take on “October Moon” ventures into nightmarish territory, thrashing guitars piercing the gentle dreamscape of the original.

Despite the reinterpretations, the project remains tethered to the elemental landscape that shaped it – here, the artist talks us through some of her homeland favourites.

FAVOURITE TIME OF DAY

Maria Somerville: I love the blue hour, the kind that happens just after sunset – it’s like a kind of twilight. What I like is that it only lasts for 40 minutes or so. It’s especially nice in the West of Ireland, before the grey starts closing in.

FAVOURITE SENTIMENTAL OBJECT

Maria Somerville: My acoustic guitar that my neighbour gave me when I was 12. It’s really beat up from where he’s played it so much. I often lose things all the time, but this is something I’ve managed to hold onto.

Stonefly Press Still 2 (Daniel Swan) — Photography Daniel Swan

FAVOURITE SCENT THAT REMINDS YOU OF HOME

Maria Somerville: I live near Connemara National Park, and I’m not sure whether it’s the shore or the lake, but there’s a smell of peat soil. I can recognise that smell wherever I am, especially if I’ve been away for a while and then go back.