By Claire Dietz
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Tuesday marked the start of Iowa City’s annual Mission Creek Festival, a celebration of artists from diverse media and areas. The festival will continue through April 10, with a performance today from musician Adia Victoria.

Victoria will perform at 8 p.m. at the Yacht Club, 13 S. Linn St., as part of her tour for Beyond the Bloodhounds, her début album.

In the past 18 months, Victoria was introduced to the music world via three tracks: “Stuck In the South,” “Sea of Sand,” and “Howlin’ Shame.”

Having lived in Paris, Germany, and New York City, after growing up in South Carolina as a Seventh Day Adventist, Victoria has experience beyond her not-quite-30-yet years.

The Nashville-based artist navigates a sound that is a mix of Delta blues, afro punk, and country. She has expressed a desire to “shine a light on the unseen and speak the unspeakable” in a press release.

For Victoria, shining a light on the unseen may also include shining the light on herself.

“I don’t necessarily paint myself in a flattering light,” she said in the release. “This isn’t the pop version of pretty or the strategically posed pretty-ugly. Sometimes, I’m just ugly. There’s a brat in some of these songs, selfish, naïve, vengeful, but there’s also a tender eye that just wants the listener to feel seen and understood.”

Having already made a stop at South by Southwest, Victoria has a long tour ahead of her that will take her far from hometown of Spartanburg, South Carolina, across the continental United States. This includes stops at New York City’s Mercury Lounge and the Resident in Los Angeles.