You Should Know: Spring Cities

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MP3: Spring Cities-Native

MP3: Spring Cities- Tired Hearts and Bones

Stream the entire album

Oh what an abundant day and age for great unsigned artists.  All the way from Northern Ireland we bring you a record bathed in the spirit of Nebraska. Spring Cities, aka Stephen West, recorded The Weight of the Fall in his bedroom with nothing but the most basic equipment (a few instruments, a cheap mic, a usb audio interface) and the finished product sounds quite wonderful.

Classified by the 21 year old himself as indie-folk, West’s first record shines in its simple instrumentation and lo-fi recording that suits the dark and reflective subject matter.  I recently asked him about how writing the album came about and he had this to say:

“I suppose the general theme of the album is disillusion. A lot of it is concerned with the realisation that your ambitions, or whatever dreams you may have, are never going to happen. Which is weird, because I initially set out to record an upbeat, optimistic record. But when I started writing I quickly discovered that happy songs just weren’t coming out. So yeah, the album is really about resigning yourself to a miserable reality! The ‘fall’ in the title is sort of a reference to that moment of realization.”

With the voice of a seasoned veteran and a mind ripe with inner conflict, realizations, and observations, The Weight of the Fall is a well written introduction and seems to be fitting for West’s first stage of the battle.  If he keeps this up I can’t wait to hear what the next act sounds like.