CANCELED: Kevin Krauter

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Hana Mendel

Kevin Krauter

press release: Indiana-based songwriter Kevin Krauter shares “Green Eyes,” the second single from Full Hand, his forthcoming album out February 28 on Bayonet Records, and announces a North American tour. Following the “bright and balmy” (Stereogum) lead single “Surprise,” “Green Eyes” is mellow and synth-heavy. “The lyrics for this song loosely represent a difficult but inevitable situation in my life toward which I held on to a lot of guilt and confusion for a long time,” says Krauter. “I was dealing with the question of how much of myself I still owe to it and how to find compassion for myself even when the thought of closure seems unlikely.”

Following his 2018 debut Toss Up, a quiet album that was built on intricate guitar riffs that looped back on themselves to create a feeling of sunlit calm, Full Hand dives further into the world he’s created. The songs are evocative of late afternoon light, or dust settling on a creaky floorboard, but with lyrics that probe Krauter’s personal life, grappling with sexuality and religion, while exploring what it means to grow up, grow more critical, and, in turn, more self-confident.  

Across 12 tracks, Krauter tackles these emotional states and ideas through elliptical songwriting that is at once poetic and truthful.  It’s not especially uncommon for artists to probe deep into their own psyche to uncover what makes them tic, but Krauter’s light touch feels like something all his own. There’s a palpable sense of joy in Krauter’s acceptance of dire, stressful moments, and a liberation that comes from hearing him realize that the present will eventually be the past, and he’ll be able to look back and find peace.  

This sense of acceptance is the backbone of Full Hand, both musically and lyrically. Krauter

took stock of the different phases of his life — what he was listening to, how he felt when he

was a teenager — and welcomed all of it into his music. This meant that nothing was off-limits. All influences were fair game — from early-’00s emo to late ’90s radio rock — and his entire history, instead of becoming something to be ignored or pushed aside, became part of the patchwork of his music. “It’s nice to recognize that the instinct is there in me and all I have to do is say yes or no.”

 “[‘Surprise’ is] a shoegaze-y guitar-laden alt-rock anthem that touches on themes of sexuality, religion, and growing up. With a sun-soaked music video that wouldn't look out of place on The Adventures of Pete & Pete, it feels like summer in December, car crash included.” - MTV News  

“Indiana's Kevin Krauter makes gentle, soft-spoken, folk- and R&B-tinged indie rock with a 90s alt edge, embodying the earnestness of the era without making it painful.” - Vice  

“Despite its pretty dream-pop sheen, ‘Surprise’ is a song of rude awakenings. Over gauzy guitars and shimmering synth clouds, Krauter acknowledges the mixed bag that is this life, nonchalantly singing, ‘Sometimes I feel like a guilty pleasure / Sometimes it don’t feel like pleasure at all.’” - Paste