Berlin-based newcomer Alev Lenz showcases her debut UK EP Alte Schoenhauser at The Half Moon on Wednesday.

Lenz's first album, Storytelling Piano Playing Fraulein, was a big hit on the continent last year and Alte Schoenhauser is the follow up.

The five-track EP, produced by Brio Taliaferro (Skunk Anansie, Sugababes and Sophie-Ellis Bextor) and Don Philippe (Freundeskreis), is a collection of idiosyncratic love songs similar to the likes of Regina Spektor, Tori Amos and Fiona Apple.

“It was very spontaneous,” she says as she recalls the idea behind the EP.

“Don sat down behind the drums, Brio grabbed a guitar, I went to the piano and we just started to play – we recorded straight away.

"It was pure creative freedom, which is what making music should be about.

“This EP is a big leap from the album.

"The songs are a lot more personal and really represent who I am.

“They mark the beginning of a new chapter in my career, especially as they’re the first songs I’m releasing in the UK.”

Born in Munich, Lenz signed her first publishing deal with BMG in 2001 with her former rock band simply named Alev.

She went solo after one album and three years of touring, travelling to New York to write and perform her own material, before co-founding ‘My Own Record Company’ in 2008.

Half Moon Unsigned featuring Alev Lenz, Et Tu Bruce and Strode Road, The Half Moon, Lower Richmond Road, October 5, 8pm, £4. Call 020 8780 9383 or visit halfmoon.co.uk.