Sarah Kryscio (pronounced “Krissy-O”) is a Wisconsin transplant to the D.C. area. When this DCist asked her if she had any voice training, she meekly answered “some.” Perhaps she was embarrassed, but ‘some’ would be an understatement. You could even tell that at her gig opening for Mike Holden at Revolution Records, where she impressed the intimate (no mics) crowd with her singing chops, her note-holding chops, and her lung-capacity chops. That’s a lot of chops, but it seems effortless for this young musician who’s been singing since she was three and took nine years of classical voice lessons beginning at eight.

She began her set three times, stumbling the first two times, and the third time went into a deft performance of “She’s Gone.” Reminiscent of songs of Kings of Convenience‘s Quiet is the New Loud, “She’s Gone” forms a drama with light and brisk acoustic notes and dreamy, calm vocals. Her guitar playing is also pretty strong, as the next song was about driving down highway seemingly littered with guitar slaps and strum pattern shifts.

Her last song was done a capella, when she belted out her voice and the dramatic pauses between her effusions became instrumentation. Very eerie. Her classical training became evident in the tautness of her smile when she took these pauses, readying her body for her voice. I saw American Idol two days before and I felt like I was Randy or Simon (this DCist refuses to be Paula Abdul). Even in that context, her voice could cut the mustard. With a new EP coming out soon, we look forward to what Ms. Kryscio will bring to the DC soul and folk rock scene.