Austin Marquez – Nostalgic Boy (2022)
With his new single ‘Nostalgic Boy’, Austin Marquez is showing us a more playful side to his music while retaining his descriptive lyrical style. Using a slightly cheeky playfulness that turns into something more self-aware, the single looks at running away from love and the fear many people have of giving their heart to someone else. While considering this, the single also taps into the easiness of living in the past and daydreaming of what could be without having to put in any real-life effort.
Packed with high energy through the bright synths, the push of self-awareness comes with the heavier guitar riffs. Exuding summer vibes, he taps into a relatable subject that is sure to get you grooving to his rhythm. While his music lives in the world of pop, there are splashes of cinematic and ambient tones woven in that bring a new life to the sound.
‘Nostalgic Boy’ catches your attention with Marquez’s vocals that curl around your senses with a warm playfulness. His vocals undulate against your ears as they curl into your veins and fill you with the cheeky playfulness of his performance. While his delivery is packed with the playfulness of the single, the lyrics tell a very different story. From the first verse, they dip into lingering in the past and avoiding moving forward and giving your heart to someone new. The cheekiness of the opening loses some of its power as the single progresses but never fully fades softening the hit that comes from the lyrics. Later in the track, his vocals rise to new heights as he accepts that he is living in the past and understands that he needs to stop running from the present. It is a powerful movement that brings the glitter of emotional growth before dropping down only to rise again. It is a delightful movement that you can’t help but get caught in.
As his vocals take you through the journey of becoming more self-aware and moving forward, the melody brings a beat that has you bopping to the sound. The building of the music is very subtle and you are hit with an explosion of dance vibes in the chorus before you know what has happened. There is no way that you can stay still while listening to this melody as the pulsing beats make their way into your muscles. Across the verses, the music calms allowing the realisations of the lyrics to hit before the energy resting in your muscles bursts into movement on the chorus.
Austin Marquez uses a playful cheekiness, moving music and addictive energy to pull us into the journey of self-awareness that is ‘Nostalgic Boy’. His vocal performance draws you in with his warm cheekiness before rising to a realisation and the understanding that he needs to move on from the past. The melody gets you moving to his rhythm before you even realise what has happened.
Find out more about Austin Marquez on his Instagram and Spotify.
