Tim Hughes talks to one of the stars of this weekend's Wilderness festival, Shura – to chat about her 80s roots, Russian heritage and surprising love of football

SOME people have just one life vocation. Not Shura

The Mancunian artist may have carved out a career as an achingly hip singer-songwriter with a top 13 album and a dreamy voice that could melt the coldest of hearts, but she could easily have turned out as film production like her father, an actor like her Russian mother and twin brother, or found fame as a footballer.

As a youth she played for Manchester City under 11s and 16s and still enjoys a kick-about.

"I love football," she says. "I still play. It's great fun and I take a ball on tour. It helps me while away the time. I play with the boys in the band. It is a really small team though; it's not like I have 15 techs, just the boys and the tour manager.

"If I know there's going to be a nice grassy knoll where I'm playing, I'll bring the ball along. I took it to Primavera in Barcelona, which was hilarious!"

She also plans to bring the ball to this weekend's Wilderness festival, where she joins a bill featuring Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters, The Flaming Lips, Crystal Fighters, and Lianne La Havas, Georgia, Parov Stellar and Oxford's Glass Animals.

The singer and guitarist – real name Alexandra Lilah Denton (Shura is the Russian short form for Alexandra) – has had cult success since releasing her debut single River, five years ago as a self-confessed bedroom artist.

Her single Touch, with its gently rippling electronics and trademark smoky vocals, was produced by Joe Pott of Athlete. She directed the video herself. She also produced a remix of Jessie Ware's Say You Love Me. Clearly there are many strings to this prodigiously talented 25 year-old's bow.

Later singles include White Light, and this year's What's It Gonna Be and the a-Ha style Make it Up – all characterised by her smoky voice, solid electronic beats and soaring synths.

She describes her music as "alternative pop".

"It's not quite the same as Taylor Swift, though – and not just because I'm not as commercially successful as her," she says with a laugh.

"There's a gap. But I am massively influenced by early Madonna. It's 80s music with a modern twist.

"I've been described as looking like Kurt Cobain on stage, but sounding like Kylie.

"I'll take that; that's a win!"

So, being half Russian, and going under a Slavic moniker, does she identify with her Russian heritage? "I do and I don't, at the same time," she says. "In England I feel very Russian and don't quite fit in, but when I go to Russia I am very much not Russian.

"I was brought up in the UK but am a big fan of Russian food like borscht and things other people wouldn't go near – but at the same time I'm not."

Openly gay, she is not a fan of Russia's treatment of the LGBT community. "They don't have a great record when it comes to the gays," she says.

"But there are lots of Russian people who are gay and unapologetic and there's a very weird attitude that is not talked about. It's a very strange scenario."

Despite her frankness in relation to her sexuality, she is keen not to be labelled by it. "I don't bring it up ever as it's not relevant to my music," she says. "Though it might be relevant to my music videos because of the representation of people in some of them."

She goes on: "I am not ashamed of it though, and don't mind talking about it. And it is important to see pop stars standing up. And it is my life."

A case in point is her stylish and hauntingly beautiful video to Touch, featuring a sequence of kisses – some of them same-sex.

I made that video before the song came out," she says. "I made it for another song which I thought would get 15,000 plays a year, which to me at the time was huge.

"Instead it has been seen by millions."

It stars her twin brother. "He's an actor, so it made sense to have him," she says. "And it is based on a true story. He was the obvious choice for me –far more than having me in it, even though I'm the one singing."

So being a Mancunian, does she feel part of the city's rich music scene? "I feel detached from Manchester, even though that's where I learned my craft," she admits. "As a bedroom musician I don't feel part of any scene, just my bedroom. Though I do feel influenced by The Smiths... and football, of course."

She is the perfect for Wilderness.

"I can't wait to get there," she says. "It's one that a lot of my friends go to and it seems like a really nice event. I've never been, and I always love a festival I've not been to before.

"The line-up is good as well, and there is great food. Good times. What is there not to like?

"I'm trying to work out whose tent I can sleep in," she laughs. "But more than anything, I'm looking forward to getting there and stuffing my face."

Shura plays Wilderness this weekend. The festival runs from today until Sunday at Cornbury Park. Go to wildernessfestival.com