New album: Spit City || Long Dark Night

These ten songs on Spit City’s debut full-length are recorded in a trailer on the Rock, SMTX. That fact, together with the cover photo and album title Long Dark Night, immediately evokes all kinds of images. Picture it, songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Sean Rose, working on new music there, guitar on his lap, a six-pack Lone Star beer on the drum that functions as a side table, above which the ghost of his idol John Prine floats. Even before the pandemic broke out, Rose was dealing with the hardest years of his life. “Been sitting inside my house // Just counting the bricks // I’ve been building around me // All this time // To keep the whole world out,” he sings in the opening track. In this album, he breaks down that wall completely; the songs span from remorse over loves lost and friends gone, painful looks in the mirror, the manic energy of getting drunk alone, and wishing for what so many of us simply call “before.” Heavy stuff, but it has led to really good rock songs, which are sung and played with conviction.

Spit City – Sean Rose (vocals, guitar, drums), with additional guitar or bass playing from Jordan Good, Patrick Ford or Donnie James Rio – delivers an impressive punk-infused Americana debut that hits hard.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp