While some bands are preoccupied with becoming famous, Doug Mains & the City Folk are satisfied simply creating music.
“It’s become less and less of making it big and more of just loving people and loving the music you make,” lead singer and songwriter Doug Mains said.
To celebrate the release of its first full-length album, the band will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday at Metrospace, 110 Charles St., along with three other folk bands — The Saw Had Eyes That Sea, Nathan Alan and Kyle Nelson Pentecost.
“It’s a great combination,” (SCENE) Metrospace Director Tim Lane said. “It’s a good group of folk musicians who are all playing music that falls under that alternative indie-folk umbrella.”
Members of the five-piece folk group said they spent about a year on their album “The Mountain’s King,” and are looking forward to sharing it with their fans.
“In some ways, this (album release) is kind of getting these songs out — but not in a bad way,” Mains said. “It’s kind of finalizing these songs, which is a really exciting and freeing feeling to finally have this album out in the hands and the ears of the people.”
The group, which has been in its current lineup for about a year, incorporates many string instruments, such as the cello and violin, and vocal harmonies into its work.
Upright bassist and music education junior Kim Wren said the use of acoustic instruments and range in volume and instrumentation gives audience members something they can’t get with many other bands.
“I think that’s a cool experience for people,” she said. “The extent that we explore and use dynamics is really different from most current bands. It’s something I really appreciate about this band because it’s one aspect of music that’s commonly neglected.”
Mains said his lack of musical knowledge combined with his bandmates’ expertise makes the group’s style unique and interesting.
“I’m pretty ignorant about music,” he said. “I just do what I think sounds good, and pretty much everyone else has a good understanding of music. That’s a cool dynamic to bring that together — to have that laid-back side of it but also to have the theory and things that actually make sense.”
Since the band first formed — and even since members began working on “The Mountain’s King” — Mains said it has evolved immensely.
“The biggest way (our music has) changed is that it has matured,” he said. “Everybody brings their own unique style to this kind of collective style we have, (and) I love it. It gets me pumped.”
Mains said he and his bandmates already have begun writing new songs, and they hope to release another album in the near future.
“I’d love another CD in the next year, but I can’t promise that,” he said. “I think we’re pretty content with just going along for the ride.”
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