Medium Build Show at the Pub
By Nóra McIntyre
On Friday, February 3rd, The Pub was astir with the arrival of household name, Medium Build. Enthusiastic fans laughed and chatted as they waited in winding lines that continued to grow longer outside the show. Once inside, fans had the chance to first enjoy an opening performance by Once&Future. The crowd was geared up by their high-spirited performance. Bold vocals and a sturdy bassline drew people from their seats and towards the stage.
Fans got moving and shook off the cold, as blue glitter was passed around, so that by the time Medium Build took the stage, they were greeted by a shimmering and charged audience. The high energy of the crowd was easily matched by Medium Build’s arresting stage presence. They seamlessly floated between their first few bops, intermixed with jokes and playfulness. Medium Build is at times a solo act led by musical artist Nick Carpenter, and other times accompanied by a full band. On Friday night, those at The Pub were graced with a fortuitous rendition of Medium Build’s music by a talented group of artists on guitar, bass, drums, and accompanying vocals.
Medium Build is skilled in juggling the juxtaposition of highly emotional and hard-hitting lyrics with melodies and beats that inspire riotous movement. The band draws inspiration from just about every genre of music, and does not allow themselves to be limited by convention and expectation. The set moved smoothly between slow tunes to ones that got everyone dancing. At one point in the show Carpenter led the entire crowd in an uncontrolled scream, which he referred to as a barbaric yawp.
We got the chance to speak with Medium Build on Saturday after the show, and as he told us, for Medium Build, sincerity is the name of the game. Through their music and overall comportment, this band does not shy away from emotion. In live performances, grateful audiences get the chance to share in and experience an emotional catharsis brought about by the music’s lyricism and the passion of the performers, who leave it all on the stage.
Those of us in Fairbanks are also lucky to have such talent in nearby Anchorage. As Carpenter shared with us on Saturday, Medium Build’s formation is deeply tied to the geography of Anchorage, and Alaska on the whole. The band values community— family, friends, fellow musicians. This certainly comes through in the music. In the music video for one song, “comeonback,” about the healing of a friendship, the music video is set in Anchorage’s Club Paris. Carpenter also expressed his love of Fairbanks. Medium Build has played multiple shows at The Pub, as well as Bad Mother, and at the Venue on Saturday. The band is excited about all the ways they will continue to grow, expand, and change, but they assured us they will “always come back” to Fairbanks.
As for what’s next for Medium Build, they recently released a brand new EP, Health, which is a complete shift from the album, Wild, which was released in 2019. As Carpenter explained, open collaborators who understand Medium Build’s creative vision were key in the production of this newest work of art. The new EP, as well as the rest of Medium Build’s discography are available to stream on Spotify. The band is also going on tour, stopping in a few major cities, as well as a few smaller ones, with plenty of stops on the west coast in case you’d like to catch another live performance by Medium Build in the coming year. Shows are selling out fast, so if you love what you saw this past weekend, it’s a great idea to grab tickets soon!
In the meantime, a big thanks to Medium Build for sharing such an impassioned performance with us at The Pub!