Quinn Christopherson - “Erase Me"

SXSW 2020 - OEB Score: 9; Popularity Index: 7

Pairs Well With…Hozier, Phosphorescent, Dermot Kennedy

With a quivering voice that immediately and emotionally grips the soul, Quinn Christopherson is an artist that has a sound so rich he’s guaranteed to be someone to follow for a long, important career. Crooning over minimal electronic pop/indie rock backing, Christopherson acts as a critical storyteller on his two released tracks “Raedeen” and “Erase Me”. The latter, the most recent winner of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert, explores Christopherson’s transgender experience with quiet, lonely confidence. His personal songwriting is expressed with vocals that go from whispered to pained yearning over the subtly complicated and tense ballad. Dynamic sounds, from spoken conversations to feedback echoes that close the song, add extra mystery and resonance to “Erase Me”, an expression that continues on “Raedeen”. The familial track is a slower builder, giving off some Western vibes that matches Christopherson’s looser vocal take complimenting its epic direction through the six-plus-minute epic. Christopherson is a SXSW must-see even just off these two tracks, but fingers crossed he has more music on the horizon sometime in 2020. (Kevin McStravick)