bio

Lorraine Dinkel (b. 1992) is a Swiss poly-instrumentalist, composer, and singer known for her ethereal vocals and experimental songwriting. Blending folk, dream pop and abstract grunge with a DIY spirit, her music explores shifting perceptions of reality through a poetic, introspective lens. She has toured across Europe with projects such as East Sister, Forever Overhead, and her solo act Lorraine92, and has collaborated with numerous artists from the Swiss and european alternative scene. As a composer, she creates for choir, theater, and interdisciplinary performance, and is currently developing new work.

Raised in a family of musicians, Lorraine began singing in choirs and playing violin at an early age, naturally leading her to embrace songwriting as a prevailing means of expression. Discovering jazz in her teens proved transformative, opening her ears to improvisation and interplay—eventually inspiring her to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Music (voice), which she completed in 2016 in Basel. Alongside her studies, Lorraine taught herself electric guitar, bass and keys and began writing her own songs, performing in various bands within Switzerland’s alternative music scene. Her musical explorations span folk, dream pop and abstract grunge—always guided by an experimental, DIY ethos.

True to her instinct for deviant harmonies and unhurried approach, she crafts songs where lyrics and music engage in constant dialogue—equally weighted and mutually shaping one another. Rooted in alternative guitar tunings and her signature ethereal vocal delivery, her compositions seek to reconcile opposites: moving from the intimate into the abstract, bridging seemingly adolescent naïveté with the complexities of adult introspection. The result is music shaped by contrast— where ambivalence is not resolved but revered, and depth arises precisely through its refusal to simplify.

Lorraine has toured across Switzerland and Europe with her projects East Sister, Forever Overhead, and her solo project Lorraine92. As a side musician, she has performed on guitar, bass, and keys with artists including Kush K, Melissa Kassab, Domi Chansorn’s 14-piece ensemble The Astral Body, Ryan Power’s (US) EU band, and Odd Beholder. She has contributed to numerous albums and EPs as a singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist.

As a composer, she scored and directed two pieces commissioned by HEAD (Geneva, 2022), wrote music for the theater piece Femme Disparaît (Le Poche, Geneva, Spring 2024), and composed instrumental works for a performance inspired by Swiss poet Alice de Chambrier (Lectures en Résonance, Espace St-Gervais, Autumn 2024). She is currently developing new music during a self-initiated residency in Marseille, France.