Katie Toupin - “Astronaut”

SXSW 2022 - OEB Score: 8; Popularity Index: 6

Pairs Well With…Lucius, Regina Spektor, Houndmouth

While hazy and a little slowed down, there’s catchy, classic pop songwriting in Katie Toupin’s music that keeps her music resonantly driving along. Since breaking from folk-rock band Houndmouth in 2016, Katie Toupin released full-length Magnetic Moves and a couple of EPs, the most recent being 2021’s Little Heart. Toupin has a rich vocal tone, but often underplays to meld into the dreamy pop nature of her music. The mix of upbeat hooks of softened synth air is spot on throughout her solo catalog, applied to both traditional, alt-country settings and tripped-out, bedroom rock material. It’s a sound that is equally romantic and toe-tapping, comfortable and quirky. There’s progression in Toupin’s music listening through chronologically and the songs on Little Heart are clear standouts including weirded-out orchestral pop number “Ghost” and the reverb-nostalgia on subtle earworm “Astronaut”. Looking back, Toupin made the right call to strike her own path even when touring with a successfully rising band, producing the best material of her career just five years since. (Kevin McStravick)