Medium Build

When
Saturday, June 1, 2024
8 p.m.
Cost: $20
Where
128 NE Russell St
Portland, OR 97212

The following description was submitted by the event organizer.

Medium Build, the queer singer-songwriter born Nick Carpenter, has a generous and inviting spirit that manifests in his songwriting. Medium Build built a cult following in Anchorage, Alaska, where he became a local celebrity and hometown hero before moving to Nashville, moving closer to his southern roots and dedicating himself to his musical career. He developed a cult-like, passionate fan base both in Alaska and outside its borders, as he inspires listeners to dig deep and discover themselves alongside his own emotional journey. Medium Build has toured with pop headliners, but beneath it, there’s an old country soul who treasures the simple things in life and keeps his family close to his heart. Songs like “Crying Over U,” embrace vulnerability with Nick’s intricate lyricism and gravelly yet soft voice at the helm, while “Never Learned to Dance” is pure cosmic Americana, complete with lush acoustic guitar and twangy steel. Still, it’s distinctly contemporary, too, a modern tale of digital love and missed connections. More than just the sound alone, what Medium Build takes most from country music is a sense of yearning and restlessness, always in search of another experience and another sound in whatever form they may come. In another era, Medium Build might have just as easily been a rhinestone cowboy lonesome out on the range, a blue-eyed crooner on a smooth-sailing yacht, or a leather-clad video star, but in the here and now, he’s no one but himself.