August Ponthier’s new album, In all places Is not Texas, explores their sophisticated relationship with their dwelling state — about leaving Texas and popping out as queer.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
If in case you have left the place the place you grew up, your relationship together with your hometown is likely to be sophisticated, which is precisely what August Ponthier sings about.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “EVERYWHERE ISN’T TEXAS”)
AUGUST PONTHIER: (Singing) In all places is not Texas. It is the one place you recognize, however that do not make it dwelling.
CHANG: Ponthier’s new album known as “In all places Is not Texas” – fairly huge clue about the place the singer-songwriter is from. And for this week’s New Music Friday section, we’ll hear all about it from Nastia Voynovskaya of member station KQED in San Francisco. Hello, Nastia.
NASTIA VOYNOVSKAYA, BYLINE: Hello, Ailsa. Thanks a lot for having me.
CHANG: Oh, effectively, thanks for being with us. So August Ponthier’s music is new to me. Simply inform us a bit of bit about them. What’s their music like? What’s their message often about?
VOYNOVSKAYA: August Ponthier is initially from the Dallas space in Texas, and so they make this beautiful, lush, indie, people and country-inflected pop. And so they have this new album out in the present day, “In all places Is not Texas.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “EVERYWHERE ISN’T TEXAS”)
PONTHIER: (Singing) I used to be dressing up as another person so I can shed the pores and skin that weighed me down.
VOYNOVSKAYA: And so they wrote it simply as they had been coming into their very own with their gender id. They modified the identify that they are going by publicly, and so they use they/them pronouns now. And that journey of self-discovery is de facto mirrored in August’s actually poignant, actually hard-hitting songwriting that I’ve so loved on this album.
CHANG: And that central theme that we talked about on the high, about dwelling and what a hometown means to us, what does August say about that on this album?
VOYNOVSKAYA: “In all places Is not Texas” actually speaks to the sensation of loving your property but additionally having to depart it as a result of you’ll be able to’t be your self there. So it’s extremely bittersweet and really sophisticated.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “BETTY”)
PONTHIER: (Singing) I kinda felt weak about myself again then. It is powerful in Texas while you’re hopeless, helpless, completely different. You say…
VOYNOVSKAYA: And so they’ve stated the album is equal elements love letter and critique, and the album’s lyrics are very autobiographical and private and particular. However I believe they’re additionally relatable to a wider viewers that is not essentially queer or from the South.
CHANG: Is there a tune on this album that you simply felt particularly captured that?
VOYNOVSKAYA: There is a enjoyable, very catchy tune referred to as “Good-looking” on there.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HANDSOME”)
PONTHIER: (Singing) Perhaps I’d be good-looking such as you.
VOYNOVSKAYA: August wrote it years in the past once they had been discovering their gender id, and it is about being perceived as a woman and being jealous of good-looking, charming guys which are getting consideration from women.
(LAUGHTER)
CHANG: Wanting that for themselves.
VOYNOVSKAYA: Completely. And there is a line in there the place they are saying, I do not know if I wish to be with you or be you.
CHANG: (Laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HANDSOME”)
PONTHIER: (Singing) Good-looking, good-looking boy. The world loves you. Do not know if I wanna be with you or be you. Be you.
VOYNOVSKAYA: I believe that is very relatable to queer of us which may not concentrate on their gender id or sexuality however know that one thing’s up. And I believe that’ll be actually rewarding for younger queer listeners to listen to.
CHANG: Yeah. So there are undoubtedly light-hearted parts on this report, however a lot of it appears so ponderous too.
VOYNOVSKAYA: Completely. There is a tune that hit me very exhausting referred to as “Indignant Man,” and it is about getting older and taking a look at your self within the mirror and seeing elements of kin in your self which may’ve traumatized you or that you simply had a detrimental expertise with.
CHANG: Wow.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ANGRY MAN”)
PONTHIER: (Singing) For those who grew up with an indignant man in your own home on a regular basis, there’s all the time going to be an indignant man in your thoughts.
VOYNOVSKAYA: It is darkish, however I believe for listeners which are grappling with their household legacy or the place they arrive from, this album may be very cathartic, and I believe it is actually going to hit dwelling.
CHANG: Hit dwelling – thanks a lot, Nastia.
VOYNOVSKAYA: Thanks, Ailsa.
CHANG: That was Nastia Voynovskaya of member station KQED. And August Ponthier’s new album, “In all places Is not Texas,” is out in the present day. You possibly can hear extra nice new albums on in the present day’s episode of New Music Friday from NPR Music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ANGRY MAN”)
PONTHIER: (Singing) Indignant man in your thoughts.
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