Instead of leaning on traditional instrumentation and reliable, if not a little weathered, metaphors about trucks and farms and whiskey, Nick Carpenter—aka Medium Build—finds genius in emphasising the modern in modern folk rock throughout King of Having Fun. He’s not free as a bird; he’s “free as a Costco sample, I’m unchained” (“Cone Off”). He’s not ashamed to admit that he often zones out with phone in hand: “I treat my life like it’s a rerun, but I tune out while I scroll” (“King of Having Fun”). Why go for the typical heart-fluttering fare in a love song when you could write “Buzz me open like a sunroof hatch,” as he does in “Thank You, Cook”? The casual comfort of a routine trip to the pharmacy with Mom in “Feed the Boys”, the seething resentment brewing at a chain-restaurant table throughout “In My Gut”—Carpenter sees nothing but potential for rich portraits and further understanding in these pedestrian snapshots from everyday life in the 21st century. Yes, he sounds great while singing his heart out over galloping guitar chords or sharing hushed, stream-of-conscious confessions, but it’s Carpenter’s ability to find poetry in the mundane and voice it—no matter how painful or personal it could be—that makes King of Having Fun so compelling.