Female voices are becoming some of the loudest in all of the new singer/songwriter movement emerging from the indie circuit in 2022, and among those I’ve been following closely this spring is none other than the highly skilled and naturally talented Alex Krawczyk. This player’s debut record, the eleven-track Le Olam, features a provocative dose of jazz, folk, and neo-Americana, and for all it lacks in a streamlined compositional structure it more than makes up for in originality. Le Olam shows us a strong-willed woman at the microphone who doesn’t need bells and whistles to make a statement, and she doesn’t mind giving us everything she’s got in this record’s tracklist.
Contrast doesn’t seem to be as important to Krawczyk’s modus operandi as cohesiveness is in tracks like “I Will Take You Home,” “Above Water,” “Turning,” and “Calling My Angels,” but this isn’t to suggest that she doesn’t know how to utilize juxtaposition when she wants to. It’s more to note just how important compositional symmetry is to this singer/songwriter, especially with regards to extending a lyrical theme to that of the instrumentation. The harmonies in “Turning” feel like a sonic swing as potent as what the drums are putting forth, which makes the words she sings all the more emphatic.
Krawczyk’s verses can be blunt in “As a River Does,” “There Will Be Light,” and “Remember (ft. Dione Taylor),” but her vocal does a lot to soften the blow and provide some additional context to whatever she’s telling the audience. She’s setting moods here more than she’s straddling musical fever pitches, and in her quest to transfer her emotions to the audience, she gives off a carefree attitude that I could use a lot more of in my pop music streams nowadays. Her positivity is infectious, and definitely one key reason to check out Le Olam.
I want to hear what Alex Krawczyk can do on stage, as if it’s anything like what she has already been able to show off in the recording studio then she’s going to yield an amazing following out on the road. Live music is back with a vengeance in 2022, and with a setlist taken directly from the tracks we hear in Le Olam, Krawczyk’s concerts could be some of the best you’re going to come across in all of this new Americana revolution taking over the underground and mainstream the same right now.
Heather Savage