Karen Lano

French singer-songwriter and performer Karen Lano develops a folk universe marked by a poetic imagination shaped by her origins — a French father and a German-Hungarian mother. From an early age drawn to writing and to the voice, she crafts songs conceived as short narratives, where language and imagery play a central role. A debut album recorded in New York opened her performance trajectory, taking her to various stages across France in settings ranging from intimate concerts to full-band configurations. Karen Lano’s music is rooted in acoustic folk close to the French chanson tradition, with spare arrangements that foreground her timbre and lyrics, often exploring themes of rebirth, chiaroscuro and the search for beauty in everyday life. Among her recordings is Muses, released in 2021, produced by the duo Facteurs Chevaux — Sammy Decoster and Fabien Guidollet — and captured in the church of Graveron-Sémerville in the Eure, which continues this pursuit of a pared-down sound and songwriting centered on the relationship between light and shadow.