Authenticity is the goal in alt-folk, maybe more so than in any other genre or sub-genre of music. Folk music in general is obsessed with its backwoods, hardscrabble honesty. Meanwhile, anything alt- must be more ‘real’ than the hated mainstream. There are no fancy electronics in alt-folk, no superstar producers, no styles of dress or speech. On False Cities, Christopher Paul Stelling is authentic.
Now, Stelling isn’t a wizened ol’ guitar man who grew up segregationist South, nor is he a barefoot son of pre-Great Society Appalachia. But those worlds are long gone, and the people of those areas are the better for it. Yes, Stelling is Brooklyn-based, but who isn’t? What matters is the music, not his origins, and False Cities is anything but false – or urban, for that matter. From its start with single/opener “Brick x Brick”, Stelling revels in barebones alt-folk, with usually just his raw voice and impressive acoustic finger-plucking. There is also some nice variety within the style, like the Southern Gothic of the following “Who I Am”, ‘Oh Lordy!’ frantic finger-plucking on the subsequent “Every Last Extremist”, gospel-folk cry out into the darkness “How Lon”, and the soulful sounds of “You Can Make It” and especially his piece about fathers & sons, “Homesick Tributaries”.
While not every track on False Cities reaches those heights, the record never fails to feel like authentic alt-folk – which is exactly what is looked for.
Christopher Paul Stelling – Brick x Brick
