Montez
Audio Feed
Old State House Square
Hartford
Sept. 08, 2026
Listening to Montez perform under Audio Feed’s orange tent was a reminder that music is as much about what we can see as what we hear.
The Hartford native, who has been performing since 2019, has honed a style that is sumptuous. She has the rare ability to use sound to set me up to feel. One way that I’ve described songs is to say, “This song makes me feel [insert emotion].” Music’s ability to impose emotional states is one of its great strengths.
I think of Montez’s music more as opening a lock on my emotional state instead of guiding me down hers. As I listened, I entered a trance-like state, as if the music was taking me into another dimension. The searing noon sky became a Van Gogh-esque starry night in my mind, and I floated gently on the rhythmic bass.
And then the memories came. I always say that the music is good when it reminds you of people and places you forgot that you forgot, and boy was I getting in my feelings as Montez sang. I could hear her voice, blending seamlessly with the beat, winding through my emotions like the wisps of smoke from an incense.
I love her sound. I’m a person who enjoys spending time in my own head, but sometimes I need help to get to myself. Montez’s music is like a mantra that made it possible to relax. Not just chill or vibe. Actually, deeply relax, and see where that took me.
Montez says that her influences include the greats like Beyonce, Mary J. Blige and Kelani, but the most direct comparison I can draw is to H.E.R., in that both have a voice powerful enough to dominate their songs but choose not to for the sake of a more laid-back sound.
Her style is deliberate, and she told me that a big part of what she loves about performing is sharing how she envisions music with others. It’s interesting that Montez used a visual word (“envision”) to describe music, but perhaps that conceptualization of her style is what made it possible for me to have the vision I did while listening to her.
Critical to Montez’s sound is the production behind her. Montez doesn’t hide behind the beat, instead utilizing the multiple layers of sound from the beat. Background vocals, driving bass and melodic overlays all feel like musical strands braided together by the young woman’s voice. Running the soundboard behind her was A. Marquise, a great musical talent in his own right.
Montez’s performance was great, and I’m looking forward to experiencing her vision of R&B again soon.
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Jamil goes to check out the School of Rock.
