Alistair Pope has been described as an 'intellectual, eccentric and witty' songwriter, one whose lyrics are, according to Mercury Music Prize nominee Sweet Billy Pilgrim’s Tim Elsenburg, ‘beautiful, poised and universal.’  He has an open heart and an open mind.  He prioritises art over money and love over security.  He prioritises fatherhood over all else.  He loves the music of Jason Isbell, Ryan Adams, Father John Misty, Ezra Furman, Elliott Smith and David Bowie.

Springh weave an intricate tapestry of soulful cosmic space rock, fusing progressive experimental soundscapes with the pop sensibilities of early 90′s grunge. They combine alternate tunings, effects driven guitar and effected violin tones with countrified vocal harmonies. The core members are Sam Swift-Glasman (guitar/vox) and Lisa Sara Jenkin (violin/vox), but they record and gig with a varying line-up of other musicians.

London born Swift-Glasman split his formative year between rural England, the urban sprawl of tri-state New Jersey and for his teenage years, the wild-west cowboy culture of Great Falls, Montana. He grew up on an appetite of post-hippy Americana including artists such as Grateful Dead, CCR, and Dylan. 

"I owe my music heritage to my parents, I had a very free childhood and for as long as I can remember the doors and windows were always wide open with music blasting out of the house. My mum forced a reluctant me to play instruments throughout my childhood and took me to my first gig - the Grateful Dead (with Jerry) at Meadowlands stadium." 

Later Sam was gifted a cassette tape containing Bleach on side A and Nevermind on the other, and from that moment on he spent every possible waking minute plugged into his walk-man, wearing out tape after tape full of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins et al. At the age of 18 he moved to his Mecca Seattle for a year before finally returning to the home of his birth, London to concentrate on his music.  

Lisa grew up in the chaotic and creative world of the Kings Cross squatting movement in Central London. The Hillview Estate in which she grew up was an oasis of community inhabited by artists and musicians and surrounded on all sides by the vice, prostitution and crime so prevalent in the area at this time. There were yearly street party's at which residents would play including founding members of both Orange Juice and the Pogues.

“Growing up I was exposed to my Indian father's eclectic musical tastes, he always had loud music blaring from the kitchen as he cooked up a storm. Jazz, Blues, Salsa, Soul  - anything you could move to. My mother on the other hand, influenced me to learn classical violin and took me to see opera and musicals."

During her teens when she discovered grunge and brit-pop, she would spend evenings after college at gigs in and around Camden and weekends at squat raves. She became obsessed with Spiritualised and Mogwai, both bands who would become a huge influence down the line.

Lisa and Sam met in London and after getting together they travelled around South America for an entire year. During this time they started to work on material that would eventually lead to Springh, playing in gigs in tiny traveller bars all over Latin America. Back in London they spent years playing in a folk-collective collective before they started leaning towards a more post-rock sound

They attended a stream of shows by the likes of My Bloody Valentine, Mogwai and Swans. These shows had such a powerful effect that they immediately invested in an array of analogue effects and Springh was born.

For recording they were joined by Without My Medicine bassist Jack Tactics and Pneumatic Drummer Jeremy Guth. They recorded material for their first EP at Toerag studios with vintage specialist Liam Watson (White Stripes, Zutons). They have also started work on their 2nd Ep with Neil Brockbank at Gold Top Studios.

Springh are releasing their first single "Silhouette" on their own imprint Springhsong in Nov 2014.

Followers of Simon Island