Amid gearing up to hop on the yeehaw bandwagon with new album Country (out April 5 on slowplay / Island Records / Universal Music Canada), Medium Build — the moniker of Anchorage, AK, singer-songwriter Nick Carpenter — has released a series of UMusic Live videos, which he's capped off with a performance of “In My Room.”
Recorded at Toronto’s 80A the Academy at Universal Music, Carpenter performs solo, armed with just a guitar, his frayed-hem voice and his signature heart-in-throat lyricism. Pseudo-title track “Cutting Thru the Country” nearly devolves into a cappella poetry as he steps back from the mic and wails, while the effortless groove pocket of “Crying Over U” balances painful realizations (“Corner of Glendale and Montana when / How much I love you reaches up and hits me in the mouth”) with disarming quips about Croc Jibbitz.
With “In My Room,” the artist reflects back on growing up and the way a childhood home can be both something haunted and a sanctuary like no other. Carpenter remembers his parents having to work overtime to feed the family, as well as time spent alone in that safe space behind a closed door, where he was free to learn guitar, make action figures kiss, play with his dick, and dream of who he wants to become (“Wondering if I could ever get so rich / That I’d never feel alone when I’m at home”).
Like many Medium Build songs, there’s a sense of off-the-cuff monologuing; a melodic stream-of-consciousness entwining cultural references and sleight-of-hand candour with a fluid, funk-indebted cadence. Watch the performance of “In My Room” below, where you’ll also find Carpenter's North American headlining tour itinerary — including Canadian stops in Vancouver (May 28), Montreal (June 26) and Toronto (June 28).
Medium Build 2024 Tour Dates:
05/14 St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway
05/15 Kansas City, MO - recordBar
05/17 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater
05/18 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater
05/20 Phoenix, AZ - The Rebel Lounge
05/21 San Diego, CA - Music Box
05/24 West Hollywood, CA - Troubadour
05/25 San Francisco, CA - The Independent
05/28 Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Cabaret
05/30 Seattle, WA - Neumos
05/31 Seattle, WA - Neumos
06/01 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
06/03 Salt Lake City, UT - Soundwell
06/05 Des Moines, IA - Wooly's
06/06 Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line
06/07 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
06/13 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo
06/17 Atlanta, GA - Terminal West
06/19 Washington D.C. -The Atlantis
06/20 Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe Live
06/21 New York, NY - The Bowery Ballroom
06/22 New York, NY - The Bowery Ballroom
06/25 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
06/26 Montreal, QC - Bar Le Ritz PDB
06/28 Toronto, ON - Lee’s Palace
06/29 Detroit, MI - St. Andrew’s Hall
06/30 Indianapolis, IN - HI-FI Indy
07/01 Columbus, OH - Skully's Music-Diner
