When Lau Noah performs at the Adelaide Guitar Festival this month, it will be the Spanish-born, New York-based artist’s first time playing in Australia.

For an audience likely unfamiliar with her intimate, intricate style of guitar playing and storytelling, Noah has one simple request.

“It would be a pleasure to have them come without any prior knowledge of what I sound like,” she says.

“I know it’s a big ask in the digital age, but I truly believe the live show is special, and that it can offer something to anyone, regardless of their preferred musical style. Playing for ‘empty ears’ in that sense – people who have no expectation of what they’re about to witness – is such a privilege for an artist, because you get to see the audience’s first-ever reaction. It’s a precious feeling.”

Lau Noah. Portrait © Alba Marine

Lau Noah’s songs seem to hover in a world of their own. Combining the melodic grace of classical composition with the poetic intensity of the contemporary folk scene, hers is a sound that has evolved without the constraints of formal training. She began playing guitar later in life, she explains,...