Texas Music News — July 27, 2026
Austin singer-songwriter Quentin shed the wigs, glam, and stage personas for a raw solo debut called Tomgirl. But the album finally puts the artist’s own tear-streaked face on the cover. Quentin uses all pronouns and says the record marks something new. For the first time, no persona stands between them and the microphone.
The album arrived Friday, July 24, the same night Quentin played a release show at Factory on 5th. Attendees who chipped in $9 at the door supported the SIMS Foundation. The nonprofit funds mental health care for Austin musicians. Before going solo, Quentin fronted two earlier Austin bands, The Past Lives and Nané. KUTX named Quentin its July Artist of the Month, calling the singer “powerful, evocative, and anthemic as hell.” So that praise tracks. Opening track “Peanut Butter Cigarettes” hits with power-pop swagger. Then “I Miss New York” pulls back into something quieter and more acoustic.
Two songwriting retreats at Sonic Ranch, the sprawling studio compound in El Paso, shaped Tomgirl the most. But Quentin expected the isolation to unlock tenderness. Instead, rage came first. “I didn’t even realize how angry I was,” Quentin says of that first 2023 visit. “It was, like, day three the first time I went, and I just woke up bawling.” Strip away the phone, the friends, and the noise. Whatever hides beneath eventually surfaces, like sediment kicked loose in a riverbed.
Quentin Stops Performing and Starts Confessing
Tomgirl centers on breaking free from a relationship with a closeted partner, according to press materials. Now it’s about rediscovering queer joy on the other side. Quentin says the album marks a shift away from “heightened versions” of themselves built for the stage. “I actually am so innately feminine that I created a male persona to go onstage with,” Quentin says. But Quentin is pushing back against comparisons to Prince. The album cover also captures that unmasking literally: a single tear rolls down Quentin’s cheek, wig discarded, makeup half gone.
Yet Quentin isn’t walking away from spectacle for good. The comparison to Beyoncé says it best. Fans loved the platinum blonde of the Cowboy Carter era. They also loved the sequins of Renaissance. Still, Beyoncé always returns to the stage as herself. “I’m not letting go of the fantasy,” Quentin says. “I’m just revealing what’s behind it.” For an artist who spent a career building characters, that’s the boldest move of all.
Details at CultureMap Austin
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