Posted on Sep 17, 2022
On Quinn Christopherson's debut album, stories of growth emerge in monumental details
321
4
2
2
2
0
https://www.npr.org/2022/09/16/ [login to see] /quinn-christopherson-write-your-name-in-pink-album-review
For Quinn Christopherson, storytelling is something of a family affair. The musician, who grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, attributes his knack for it to his heritage: His mother is Ahtna Athabascan and his father is Iñupiat, and Christopherson says telling stories is central to his family's traditions. He started writing a lot of poems as a kid; at 20, his dad bought him a guitar and he began writing songs. But really, he says, he traces it back to his grandmother. "My grandma would tell us stories, and sometimes they would be so short," he once said in an interview. "She would almost say nothing, but we got a whole world view out of, like, five words."
The first song I ever heard of Christopherson's was, in fact, a tribute to his grandmother: "Mary Alee," a sweet, moving folk song he entered into the 2018 Tiny Desk Contest. As it turns out, he's a keen inheritor of her impressive economy of language. On Write Your Name In Pink, his debut album, collections of charming details — childhood friends, hole-in-the-wall bars, a father-daughter bowling league — thread together to reveal moving, complicated stories of growth, pain and possibility.
For Quinn Christopherson, storytelling is something of a family affair. The musician, who grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, attributes his knack for it to his heritage: His mother is Ahtna Athabascan and his father is Iñupiat, and Christopherson says telling stories is central to his family's traditions. He started writing a lot of poems as a kid; at 20, his dad bought him a guitar and he began writing songs. But really, he says, he traces it back to his grandmother. "My grandma would tell us stories, and sometimes they would be so short," he once said in an interview. "She would almost say nothing, but we got a whole world view out of, like, five words."
The first song I ever heard of Christopherson's was, in fact, a tribute to his grandmother: "Mary Alee," a sweet, moving folk song he entered into the 2018 Tiny Desk Contest. As it turns out, he's a keen inheritor of her impressive economy of language. On Write Your Name In Pink, his debut album, collections of charming details — childhood friends, hole-in-the-wall bars, a father-daughter bowling league — thread together to reveal moving, complicated stories of growth, pain and possibility.
On Quinn Christopherson's debut album, stories of growth emerge in monumental details
Posted from npr.org
Singing
Music
Stories
Native Americans
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 2
2
2
0
0
0
0
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."When Christopherson's songs focus on the present, they celebrate the work and rewards of creating his own family. "Take Your Time" is a paean to being out on the road, but it's mainly a song of commitment to his musical partner, Nick Carpenter — a loving urge, over downtempo guitar, to Carpenter to slow down and take in everything they've accomplished together. "Thanks," the album's opener, is a love letter to Christopherson's wife, an unhurried accounting of his gratitude for the life they've built together. "I don't know what I was looking for," he sings, "but I knew when I found you." "Kids" is a wishlist for their future children: ambitious, grateful, good sports who know how to cook. These songs are not entirely free from the darkness that informs his more painful work: They're still laced with doubt and insecurity and bad dreams. But they find relief in patiently cataloging the goodness that surrounds him. Christopherson's songs, like his grandmother's five-word worldview, strip away distractions to highlight the most precious, most pertinent facets: the things we carry with us from our past; the small moments of compassion we share with each other; the places that shape us — reminding us how this attention to detail can help us look through our pain to love and see each other more clearly."
..."When Christopherson's songs focus on the present, they celebrate the work and rewards of creating his own family. "Take Your Time" is a paean to being out on the road, but it's mainly a song of commitment to his musical partner, Nick Carpenter — a loving urge, over downtempo guitar, to Carpenter to slow down and take in everything they've accomplished together. "Thanks," the album's opener, is a love letter to Christopherson's wife, an unhurried accounting of his gratitude for the life they've built together. "I don't know what I was looking for," he sings, "but I knew when I found you." "Kids" is a wishlist for their future children: ambitious, grateful, good sports who know how to cook. These songs are not entirely free from the darkness that informs his more painful work: They're still laced with doubt and insecurity and bad dreams. But they find relief in patiently cataloging the goodness that surrounds him. Christopherson's songs, like his grandmother's five-word worldview, strip away distractions to highlight the most precious, most pertinent facets: the things we carry with us from our past; the small moments of compassion we share with each other; the places that shape us — reminding us how this attention to detail can help us look through our pain to love and see each other more clearly."
(0)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google