Photography – Mark Webber: Andrew Osei-karmen
In the saturated world of ambient music, where anonymity is often part of the allure, a new presence named Lexiuam has quietly been carving out a significant following. With soundscapes that feel both architecturally vast and deeply intimate, the project’s two albums, Chrome and Horizon, have become mainstays on influential streaming playlists. The artist behind these textured, synthetic narratives, however, is not a reclusive studio prodigy but a face familiar to cinephiles: British actor Andrew Osei-Karmen.
Known for a career built on subtle intensity and psychological depth, Karmen’s transition from screen actor to synthwave composer is less a career pivot and more an expansion of his artistic language. The two disciplines, he argues, are born from the same creative impulse.
“Acting is about inhabiting a space—a character, a scene, an emotion,” Karmen explains, his tone measured and thoughtful. “Music does the same, but it uses frequency instead of dialogue. For me, they’ve always been parallel paths. I was just walking one publicly.”
That private path was illuminated during the production of the 2024 indie film Dream. While on location in Santa Barbara, Karmen found himself profoundly influenced not just by the coastal landscape but by the film’s score, crafted by the French production house Delver. Their work served as a catalyst.
“The collaboration with Delver was an education,” he reflects. “They taught me how to translate a visual mood into sound, how texture creates narrative. It wasn’t about simply writing a melody; it was about building a world. That’s when the sketches in my phone and the ideas in my head began to feel like something I had to build.”
The result is Lexiuam, a moniker under which Karmen crafts what he calls “synthwave with soul.” The music avoids easy categorization, blending nostalgic 80s synth lines with modern ambient drone and cinematic, slow-burning crescendos. Tracks on Horizon, the project’s breakout follow-up to the debut Chrome, feel like self-contained stories, earning praise online for their “emotional narratives” that invite listeners to project their own experiences onto the sound.
Horizon Album Cover – By Jonathan Guest
“The goal with Lexiuam is to create a vessel,” Karmen states. “A piece of music should be a space people can step into, a dream they forgot they had. It’s an internal journey, and in that way, it’s not so different from watching a film.”
While Lexiuam’s rapid ascent on platforms like Spotify and Amazon Music has sparked considerable buzz, Karmen is quick to dismiss any notion of abandoning his primary craft. He sees the two not as competing interests, but as a symbiotic relationship that fuels his creativity.
“No, acting is the heartbeat. It’s my foundation,” he confirms with a faint smile. “But music is the breath. One doesn’t work without the other. Exploring sound has made me a more perceptive actor, and understanding character has made my music more empathetic.”
In an era where artists are often pressured to stay in a single, marketable lane, Andrew Osei-Karmen is making a compelling case for the polymath. He moves between mediums not as a dilettante, but as a storyteller fluent in multiple languages. Whether on screen or through speakers, his work asks the same fundamental question: what does it feel like to be here, now? With Lexiuam, he is simply offering a different, and perhaps more universal, answer.
Lexiuam’s albums, including Chrome, Horizon, and the newly released Blue, are available on all major streaming platforms. Follow the project @lexiuam on social media.
