Mali Velasquez - “Bobby"

SXSW 2024 - OEB Score: 9; Popularity Index: 6

Pairs Well With…Big Thief, Stella Donnelly, Julien Baker

The detail in Mali Velasquez’s voice is stunning, wobbly in the best of ways as she dances around each note with broken emotion. Raw but textured, she makes sad songs sound sadder on her debut record I’m Green. While this music would be crushing with just a guitar and voice, Velasquez builds her songs to full cacophony at specific times, hanging patiently in places in between. A grimy dissonant guitar, glitchy electro production, found-sound percussion - these twists jump into Velasquez’s otherwise spare setting at just the right moments. The Nashville-based artist pulls from country and Americana tones as well, taking the naturalness of those genres and using them as a clean canvas to paint with impressionistic, experimental colors. It’s among the best debuts I’ve heard listening through the SXSW roster and an easy call for an artist that will have a long and interesting career if I’m Green is only the beginning. (Kevin McStravick)