Young Mister - “What If I?”

SXSW 2020 - OEB Score: 7; Popularity Index: 6

Pairs Well With…Dawes, Jackson Browne, Lord Huron

Young Mister’s sophomore record, 2019’s Sudden Swoon, is an album focused on rock-solid songwriting, a folksy, Americana collection of timeless and relatable tales. Everything sounds in its right place, consistently breezy and rooted in a soft, romantic atmosphere. Sweetness emits from the tracks on Sudden Swoon, a hopeful sound instead of just living in his feelings that can often come with the strums of an acoustic guitar. There’s less exploration than Young Mister’s debut and that’s just fine as the North Carolinian has nailed the 70s-inspired mood throughout all of Sudden Swoon.

2017 Review: Young Mister’s debut takes some trips around the map, dipping into Americana, moody rock and synth pop song by song. The Asheville-based artist has a smooth hold of each, melding to a chilled state no matter the instrumentation. His songwriting takes cues from pop, rock and country, though mostly understated, driving material like “Anybody Out There” and relatively mid-tempo, bouncy mid-tempo opener “The Best Part”. “Pasadena” on the other hand reflects the California breeze that the song implies, a classically written track that starts to space out just a bit through the late-song build.