The Austin 100: Heran Soun

By Stephen Thompson

Published March 17, 2020 at 5:00 AM EDT

Hometown: Portland, Maine

Genre: Electronic

Why We're Excited: Heran Soun was deaf for much of his early childhood, but after regaining his hearing at age 9, he became entranced by music. That sense of obsessive affection informs his performances, in which he looms over a bank of keyboards and drum pads and carefully manipulates his sound with loops as he goes. The resulting music bridges folk, rock, electronic and ambient music with the help of a soaring, deeply emotive voice.

Listen to Heran Soun's " I Offer"

Different Radio Music

Stephen Thompson

Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)

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