“‘Come Smile With Me’ started out being written while I was in still in San Diego,” says 21-year-old songwriter and guitarist, Austin North of the song, the latest single from his band Sleepspent’s debut EP, out now via El Paso-based Slow Start Records. Sleepspent will launch the second leg of its summer tour this evening in El Paso at The Lowbrow Palace. See below for full itinerary. “It’s mostly about miscommunication and how people don’t think before they speak, or don’t care about the impact their words have.”

North began performing as a UC San Diego student before eventually returning to his hometown of El Paso to form Sleepspent with friend and co-writer, Aaron Quintanilla. The band, now a trio including Cecilia Otero on bass and Josh Mendoza on drums, released its Chris Common (Minus The Bear, Chelsea Wolfe, Le Butcherettes)-produced debut “It’s Better If You Don’t Speak Or Think on May 4th.

“We’re also definitely inspired by shoegaze and dreampop,” North says, elaborating on Sleepspent’s sound. “That can be heard in the alternate tunings used throughout our music as well as the melodic chord progressions and melodies.”

And though he’s young, North also takes influence from The Cure and The Smiths – two more acts with definitive “sounds” that have never sacrificed art for artifice. North’s formative years studying jazz guitar wraps it all up in a solid technical foundation, too, but ultimately, Sleepspent songs exist to make you feel.

07/06/2018: El Paso, TX @ The Lowbrow Palace (w/ Red Light Cameras, Emily David and the Murder Police, If We Were Turtles)
07/07/2018: Marfa, TX @ Lost Horse Tavern (w/ If We Were Turtles)
07/08/2018: San Antonio, TX @ Ventura
07/09/2018: Austin, TX @ Cheer Up Charlie’s
07/12/2018: Memphis, TN @ Sounds Good Memphis
07/13/2018: Nashville, TN @ Drifters BBQ
07/14/2018: Cincinnati, OH @ The Comet
07/16/2018: Minneapolis, MN @ Char Bar
07/17/2018: Omaha, NE @ B Bar
07/18/2018: Tulsa, OK @ Soundpony
07/19/2018: Wichita, KS @ Kirby’s Beer Store
07/21/2018: Norman, OK @ Red Brick Bar
07/22/2018: Albuquerque, NM @ Moonlight Lounge