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Connor McLaren at HI-FI
One listen to Connor McLaren’s debut album, the aptly named INNOCENCE, and it’s as if you’ve known this 21-year-old heartland kid your whole life.
“Bob Dylan doing a line of Oasis with a shot of Sublime,” is how young McLaren describes his multi-colored singalong story-songs. He fuses ‘60s and ‘90s beats with classic-rock tropes and keening post-Beatles harmonies. All of it sprinkled with a breezy island ska-reggae vibe thanks to his family’s annual pilgrimages to Jamaica.
His origin tale is the stuff of rock ‘n’ roll legend. Growing up north of Indianapolis, the baby-faced troubadour/storyteller with a halo of blond curls was 14 when he first heard Ben Kweller’s “Lizzy.” The stripped-down love song inspired McLaren to pick up a guitar and write songs of his own. “I had a full-on, goosebumps, out-of-body experience when I heard “Lizzy” for the first time,” he says. “I went back and listened to every Ben Kweller song I could find.”
Cut to seven years later, and Connor McLaren’s debut album is being released on Kweller’s indie label, The Noise Company. McLaren’s childhood idol not only performed and co-wrote many of the songs, but he also produced them at NoiseCo Studios located in Dripping Springs, TX. It was a long and circuitous journey that started with the two connecting over Instagram, followed by years of McLaren pestering Kweller until it evolved into a full-fledged mentorship and collaboration.
McLaren’s come a long way from busking outside his favorite rock clubs, hoping to get generous contributions to his “Weed Fund” tip box. Now he’s headlining those same clubs, selling hundreds of tickets throughout the Midwest. INNOCENCE is McLaren’s path from adolescence to adulthood, knowing that you must leave the former for the bittersweet losses of the latter.
Event Links
Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/2145095-0
Website: https://go.evvnt.com/2145095-2
