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 making the recent move from 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 while “Never Learned to Dance” is pure cosmic Americana, complete with lush acoustic guitar and twangy steel, but 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.

Medium Build’s vision is to take the sense of community his music creates far beyond wherever he calls home. Last year was busy for Medium Build, opening shows for Lewis Capaldi, Matt Maeson, and FINNEAS, while selling out his headlining tour across N. America and playing shows in Europe on the heels of his Health EP. 2024 proves to be no different, with a EU / UK tour supporting Holly Humberstone, California dates with Tyler Childers, his biggest US headline tour to date, and a handful of major festivals punctuated by Bonnaroo. All this touring will support a slew of new music following last year's "In My Room", which has already won the hearts of peers, and been championed by BBC1, Alt Nation, and Zane Lowe.

Petey

On his new album USA, Chicago-bred singer/songwriter Petey bares his soul about all the endless things that keep him up at night. As he muses on everything from masculinity to anxiety to the very nature of human existence, the Los Angeles-based artist drifts between warmhearted sincerity and delightfully warped humor—a deeply affecting dynamic that also defines the absurdist alt-comedy that’s earned him a massive following on TikTok. Built on his idiosyncratic but viscerally charged breed of alt-pop/rock, Petey’s Capitol Records debut ultimately brings a gloriously strange convergence of comfort, catharsis, and unrelenting joy.

The follow-up to his 2022 debut Lean Into Life, USA finds Petey working with co-producers John DeBold (Wallows, Remi Wolf) and Aidan Spiro to piece together what he refers to as “an origin story of a typical American male in their 30s.” While the album includes decidedly autobiographical tracks like “Home alone house”—a real-life account of getting busted smoking weed on the beach

in eighth grade—Petey’s songwriting often takes the form of impressionistic vignettes revealing the sheer depth and scope of his inner world. On “I’ll wait,” for instance, he delivers an explosive piece of pop-punk whose lyrics offer a candid perspective on mental health. “It’s a song from the mindset of an anxious man who’s acutely aware of the resources available to him, but for whatever reason decides to just wait it out,” Petey explains. “There’s some recognition that doing nothing will make the problem drag out longer, but there’s also an understanding that the uncomfortable moment will eventually end—just like everything else in life.”