Who Won SXSW 2026? The 20 Best Things We Saw in Austin

Two years ago, This Is Lorelei was one of the more talked-about new acts at SXSW 2024. The solo project of New York singer-songwriter Nate Amos has gotten a lot bigger since then, to the point that he was a major draw for the day party thrown by Marshall at Mohawk on Monday (say that three times fast), with lines stretching down Red River. Joined by backing musicians Al Nardo and Bailey Wollowitz, Amos played one emotional gem after another. He got big cheers for “Dancing in the Club” and “Where’s Your Love Now,” two songs that feel like they’re on their way to becoming indie standards after being covered by MJ Lenderman and Cameron Winter, respectively. (We named Lenderman’s incredible take on “Dancing in the Club” the second-best song of the year in 2025.) Amos is about to release a “super deluxe” version of his 2024 breakthrough album, Box for Buddy, Box for Star, featuring even more all-star covers of his music. These days everyone’s singing This Is Lorelei songs, and that included much of the capacity crowd at Mohawk.

After a brief changeover, Amos returned to the stage to blow people’s minds entirely with his other band, Water From Your Eyes. This show offered a rare chance to see the two projects on the same bill, and while their live incarnations feature similar lineups (Amos, Nardo, and Wollowitz play in both), the energy shifted quickly with WFYE vocalist Rachel Brown joining them up front. They got into heavier, danker tones right away, turning songs like “Life Signs,” “Nights in Armor,” and “Buy My Product” into ever-changing prog-rock/psych-pop mini-epics. When Amos played the show-stopping guitar solo from the title track of their fantastic 2025 album It’s a Beautiful Place, it was one of the single coolest moments of the festival. Later, Brown reflected on some of their past visits to Austin: Back then, “We played nine shows in four days. But now we only played one show on one day — and it’s here with you.” In a few weeks, Water From Your Eyes will be hitting the road as an opening act for Hayley Williams, giving them a whole new audience to wow. It’s a good year to get into one of these bands, or better yet both. —S.V.L.