Izabela Kałdońska’s fourth album started as music for a theater piece that never got finished. When the pandemic killed the original project halfway through, she took those violin recordings and turned them into something entirely different – a solo album that actually works.
The whole thing runs on a pretty simple setup: violin, some basic effects like delay and an octaver, plus loops. That’s it. But Kałdońska knows how to make those limitations work for her. Each of the ten tracks gets named after different emotions from the original play, and you can actually hear them – “Peace” hits especially hard given everything that’s happened in recent years.
Recording in Leipzig adds some weight to the project, though Kałdońska doesn’t lean on the city’s classical reputation. She’s clearly studied the greats (you can hear bits of Arvo Pärt and Nils Frahm floating around), but this album sounds like her own thing.
The best part? Everything can be performed live without backing tracks or studio tricks. Kałdońska composed and recorded every piece herself, which means these songs translate directly to the stage. She’s currently touring western Germany, proving the point.
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