bio
"If fresh, interesting folk music moved units like bad pop does, Olenka Krakus and her bandmates would be zillionaires." Hour Magazine
“At different times, autumn can be the most beautiful and the most melancholy of all seasons. And so it goes for Olenka Krakus and her band, the Autumn Lovers, whose particular brand of balladry treads that line between elegance and sorrow…”
Jam Magazine
Olenka and the Autumn Lovers are a unique musical force. They manoeuvre seamlessly through a mix of styles, ranging from Eastern European to North American folk. Part gypsy caravan, chamber ensemble, and honky tonk jukebox, the indie folk orchestra's diverse instruments (classical guitar, cello, violin, trumpet, lap steel, mandolin, etc.) provide a distinctive musical backdrop to the provocative narratives of the Polish-born singer-songwriter. Influenced by her memories of Communist Poland and by the country's folklore, Olenka investigates themes of social justice and personal responsibility, populating her songs with melancholy outcasts from both Polish and Canadian landscapes.
2008 saw the band release three albums, which were followed up by 2010’s critically acclaimed And Now We Sing. In addition to this hectic recording schedule, the band has been busy touring widely and participating in many of the country’s most established festivals, including Pop Montreal, Halifax Pop Explosion, NXNE, CMW, the Home County Folk Festival, and Rifflandia.
Music by O&AL has been featured on CBC 1, 2, and 3 – including a recent broadcast of The Vinyl Cafe, and a live performance on CBC’s flagship arts & culture program, Q – and has been played extensively on Canadian college radio. The lead track off of the new album, “Odessa”, was shortlisted for a CBC3 Bucky Award and was included in CBC3's countdown of the Top 103 songs of 2011. The 2008 self-titled album won the CHRW local-album of the year award. Several songs have also been licensed for radio, television, and film projects.
O&AL’s music has been compared to that of Arcade Fire, The Decemberists, Beirut, Wilco, Cat Power, Gillian Welch, Lhasa, Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen.
line-up:
Olenka Krakus - lead vocal, classical guitar, harmonica
Evan Brodie - electric guitar, electric bass
Sara Froese - violin, vocals
Simon Larochette - electric bass, electric guitar, lap steel, pedal steel, trumpet
Jeff Moon - drums
Kelly Wallraff - cello, vocals
band history
“Quand on est dans la merde jusqu’au cou, il ne reste plus qu’a chanter.” – S. Beckett
“Art consists in going the full length. If you start with drums, you have to end with dynamite.” – H. Miller
These are two of the quotations that have graced the liner notes of Olenka and the Autumn Lovers’ albums. And if you were to visit Olenka’s London Ontario apartment, you’d find them among a swarm of to-do lists, notes, and other aphorisms, scrawled on scraps of paper and affixed to the walls of her cluttered home office. “Those are two of my favorite quotations; they’re taped right above my desk to remind me why I’m doing this.” The “this” she refers to is music, something that has been an important part of her life since she was a young girl, although only recently has it constituted her full time career. As for the need of a reminder, she laughs and explains that it’s easy to get lost in the daily grind of the music industry. “I need messages like these to keep me motivated and focused. I like that the statements emphasize how music is greater than me and my daily pursuits – how art is a profound and essential part of human experience – and that I’m contributing to that aspect of human experience by pursuing this insane life.”
In 2008, Olenka withdrew from her doctoral studies in literature and turned her attention to music. She formed a band, recorded three albums, and started a manic touring schedule. And that was just in 2008. Over the course of the next three years, the band made appearances at many of the country’s most well-known festivals, recorded and released their sophomore full-length, And Now We Sing, to critical acclaim, and established themselves as a unique presence in the current Canadian scene, helped in no small measure by the band’s diverse arrangements and Olenka’s rich contralto, which everyone from Rich Terfry to Jann Arden has praised for its quality. That three-year period also saw a number of changes in band-personnel. “I’ve been very fortunate to have had the pleasure of collaborating with some of the best musicians in London’s extremely vibrant music scene,” Olenka explains. “Everybody who’s played with me has helped to shape the sound of my songs in immeasurable ways.” The talent and creativity of this group can be measured by investigating all the musical projects that current and former Autumn Lovers are pursuing in London and elsewhere.
Whereas O&AL’s previous releases were born of unrestrained enthusiasm and haphazard circumstances, in which friends’ basements, living rooms, and closets were employed as studio spaces and reveling partygoers contributed cheers and toasts to the odd tune, the new album captures the band in a more refined mood and setting. Recorded predominantly at Andy Magoffin’s London-based studio, The House of Miracles, the sophomore album reveals a band moving confidently through a variety of styles and arrangements, and settling comfortably into its growing maturity. The narratives and melodies gain inspiration from all manner of popular and not so popular influences. “I grew up listening to the Beatles, Chopin, and the odd Polish folk song. I spent my teens with The Dead Kennedys, Sonic Youth, The Pixies, and The Breeders. And then I started working at record stores,” Olenka jokes. “I guess at that point things just exploded and anything was fair game: Bach, Miles Davis, Gram Parsons, Gillian Welch, Otis Redding, Gang of Four, Wilco, Arcade Fire, …I could go on forever.” That variety of influences certainly helped craft the many musical styles and genres explored on the newest album. Lyrically, Olenka drew on the diverse interests prompted by her relationships, ancestry, studies, and the odd bits and pieces of her daily life. “I was interested in exploring my Polish background again, but not as explicitly as in previous recordings: maybe more melodically than thematically. I was more interested in analyzing how people confront difficult experiences such as political unrest, discrimination, or run of the mill heartbreak.” With these themes in place, the album takes the listener through an unpredictable landscape of moods, characters, melodies, and instrumentations. “Whatever interests me generally finds its way into my writing, and I’m always expanding my interests.”
press
Album Reviews: and now we sing
"From wistful, weaving melodies to playful staccato bursts, each of the album's 14 tracks tells an intriguing narrative from start to finish. Teeming with enchanting instrumentals—including cello, violin and mandolin—and Krakus' effortlessly intricate vocals, And Now We Sing is one meditatively magnetic release." !earshot
"...And Now We Sing is such a great album. Regardless of whether she's singing country music (on "Mama's Bag" or "East End"), or Eastern European-tinged folk ("Mary's Song", "Sparrow"), or smoky jazz (on "Berlin"), or venturing off into artsier territory ("No Coins"), or even just singing straight-up folk music ("Lark"), Olenka knows how to make every song seem as though it's got weight [...]. Olenka might just be responsible for the album of the year." i(heart)music
"[And Now We Sing] demands constant listening and becomes more rewarding each time through, a trend I don't expect to stop." Chromewaves
"Looking at the complete, 14-song affair it's tough to point out the best moments [on And Now We Sing] and even harder to find a note out of place, but one thing is for certain; Olenka is making a name for herself, one that deserves to stand alongside her peers not simply be compared casually to some of their best moments." Herohill
"[O&AL] sound more confident on this sophomore release, working as a single unit rather than as individual instruments playing together. Where in the past things were left a tad frayed around the edges, here everything is honed and reined in, emphasizing the record's formidable pop hooks. More than a simple folk album, And Now We Sing helps to further establish Olenka & the Autumn Lovers as a band with their own distinct voice." Exclaim
"And Now We Sing will put Olenka and the Autumn Lovers on the map, along with Canadian orchestral-rock contemporaries like Owen Pallett and Arcade Fire." Sticky Magazine
"With the whole album clocking at just over 40 minutes, And Now We Sing is barely long enough to fill up an entire commute. In that time, it whirls you down alleyways and through churchyards, through country romps and Balkan stomps at a fierce pace that only occasionally slows up for a folk dance." Discorder
"Krakus has one of those magnificent voices that can be whispery and breakable one moment and then quickly shift to a powerhouse, full-volume performance." The Coast
"Krakus has a rich, deep voice that evokes Natalie Merchant and Dolores O'Riordan yet is entirely her own [...] she seamlessly blends eastern European folk influences with pop melodies, orchestral string flourishes, plucky mandolins and indie rock guitar leads." Now Magazine
Commenting on the song "Go" from And Now We Sing: "A fine song, worthy of country radio and vintage jukebox - but Olenka's not from Nashville, not from 1981: she lives in London, ON and makes indie rock with the Autumn Lovers, certain and smouldering. So set aside the image of a bridle, a kerosene lantern, a hill - imagine instead a beat-up Civic, a cell-phone, a highway. Betrayal persists, heartbreak adapts, loss lives." Said the Gramophone
"The album seemingly still features the old-world harmonies - not to mention leader Olenka Krakus's gorgeously haunted waiver - that made the troupe's 2008 self-titled debut such a stunner." exclaim.ca
"London, Ontario based musician Olenka Krakus and her Autumn Lovers have achieved that very perfect union of instrumentation and lyricism on [And Now We Sing], only their second full length release. "Krakus' extraordinary voice and wise beyond her years lyrical capacity will leave you more than a little awestruck. [...] For the uninitiated, think Gogol Bordello fronted by Patti Smith with Wilco playing in the background." Everything is Pop, Pop Is Everything
"Krakus would be a compelling figure no matter what she sings about, and there are few other female vocalists who sound anything like her, either in performance or her songwriting." The Record
"Olenka and the Autumn Lovers are one of Canada's least audacious but most stellar indie-folk acts. [...] Littered with stories and references to life on the cheap, the songs [on And Now We Sing] are consistent in theme and compelling to say the least. Much like a blues singer Olenka seems to be interested in expressing the life of the disenchanted or those simply working hard to make ends meet." Londonfuse
live show reviews
"Olenka was in fine voice all the more so when the band members left the stage to just the woman and her guitar. And that voice! Let's not forget that supple voice of easy intimacy, which kept the crowded hall in rapt attention for the entire evening."
Sept 2011 Aeolian Hall, London ON.
beatmagazine.ca
"Krakus brings an authenticity to her songs and doesn't fill space with unnecessary movement or banter. She and the rest of her London, ON-based outfit played a set that felt seamless as they ran through older tunes and a few from their latest And Now We Sing."
Aug 2011 Biltmore, Vancouver BC
discorder.ca
"The pleasant surprises to this point were few and far between but Olenka and Co. were the biggest. A solid dose of folk, chamber pop and Americana (can you call it that if they're Canadian?) wrapped in Eastern European themes (there's certainly a bit of Beirut in their sound) through Olenka Krakus's memories of Communist Poland."
Pop Montréal 2010
BrooklynVegan
album reviews: papillonette
“Papillonette has a rich, folksy blend of Olenka and the Autumn Lovers' French, Polish and Canadian roots” The Gauntlet
Commenting on the song “Flash in the Pan”: “A heart rendering slide guitar solo.” CBC3
“The Papillonette EP forges a different path than the LP. It's a more rootsy affair, tapping into traditional America and folk. The band is often stripped down to just a voice and a folk guitar in places, or tastefully adding a touch of lap steel guitar…”!earshot
album reviews: self titled
"If fresh, interesting folk music moved units like bad pop does, Olenka Krakus and her bandmates would be zillionaires." Hour Magazine
"Krakus' lyrics prod at her Polish ancestry, exploring moral inquiries from her dying planet to life in suburbia, while spinning stories reminiscent of the likes of raconteurs Tom Waits or Nick Cave (who would make great drinking buddies for Krakus and her Lovers)." Soundproof
CHRW’s Album of the Year for 2008
“At different times, autumn can be the most beautiful and the most melancholy of all seasons. And so it goes for Olenka Krakus and her band, the Autumn Lovers, whose particular brand of balladry treads that line between elegance and sorrow…”
Jam Magazine
“Olenka's voice is the highlight of the album, walking the fine line between fragility and power. The best songs here are the subtle ones, like “Soldier's Waltz”, using violin and glockenspeil as the background to a dirge-like march, and “Watching Neighbours”, which sounds like Feist on a very paranoid day.” !earshot
band photos
No photos found (Photoset not found)
