Kevin Krauter
Pretty Boy

It's been a year since the release of Kevin Krauter's debut album. Krauter, the bassist of Hoops and a singer-songwriter, fits into the indie-pop singer-songwriter scene of the late 2010s—a trend that, let's be clear, was ushered in by Mac DeMarco with his 2014 album "Salad Days".

I wonder how many people mention DeMarco in reviews of Krauter's work. I'm not regretful for doing so, because DeMarco was the harbinger of a new spring for that sound and aesthetic style already seen in the alternative singer-songwriter scene of the '80s and '90s, which nodded to progressive culture.

In June 2019, Krauter released this single, "Pretty Boy", a song that on the surface talks about the new bisexuality discovered by the singer-songwriter and publicly announced in a coming out shortly before.
Well, when I first read something about this single on the Internet, I thought: gosh, such a fact is important to fully understand the meaning of this artist's work and the direction he wants to take, but—good grief!—I couldn't care less about his preferences when it comes to potatoes or eggplants.

The lyrics of the song talk—briefly—about him feeling lonely, so he goes for a ride with the horses behind his house; about him noticing a handsome boy and wanting to see him dance again; about him needing time to accept what he didn't see before and now does. Even though he isn't quite at peace yet, Kevin knows that time will help him.

Okay, I understand that, put like this, the plot seems like something out of an 883 song with a "Brokeback Mountains" twist.
However, listening to the song and rethinking the words, it becomes clear that the song talks about the loneliness Kevin experienced living a situation he also doesn't fully understand. After all, Kevin has a girlfriend, so the situation makes even less sense; it's not that easy... And this situation distances him from everything and everyone.

And what if the handsome boy in question was actually young Kevin himself?
"It won't take long before I get home," concludes our protagonist, with the hope that even the present pain will become the past and therefore a bit easier to handle.

The specialized press, as usual, when discussing the single, emphasizes the singer-songwriter's bisexuality, taking the spotlight off Kevin.
The theme is, on the contrary, handled with a delicacy that even surprised me, a retrograde kattofascist with dubious musical tastes, and it makes me feel close to Krauter in the most human side of his story, one that unites all individuals: the suffering.

Speaking of the musical aspect, the track is a guitar-driven downtempo and very pleasant, it really makes you want to dance, with its soft drum machine...
Hey! And what if that handsome boy is actually me dancing right now?