Nick Garcia – Sun Jam
Master David – Today And Tomorrow
Kevin Yost – Overture 1
The_Acorns – Comcast with Prego 35
Shortstack – G.B.D.
Imad Royal – Devil Pt. II
Fugazi – Cashout
KTW – By Any Right
Synthador – Some Nights Away 20150412
The Grit Pushers – Song 5
Calm The Waters – Peace On Earth
The Harry Bells – Matilda
Judah – Lesser of 2 Evils Prod by. Judah
Thievery Corporation – Transcendence
Michael Preston – Arcanum
NUNS – Blood Red Snow
Young Master Sunshine Photogenic 1982 – West Georgia
Memphis Gold – Back Po’che, Tennessee
Matt Chaconas – Mech FM
Andrew Grossman – Awakening to the Warm Glow of a Computer Screen

Bossalingo – Les Feuilles Mortes
Drop Electric – Higgs Boson
Hailu Mergia and the Walias – Eti Gual Blenai
East Ghost – Tobacco Teeth
Golden Looks – Chisenbop
Anchor 3 – Hunter
Cigarbox Planetarium – Tiny Dream Car
Suzanne Brindamour – In the Sky
The Kings of Crownsville – Lies
Fall Seattle – Boyhood
Andrew Grossman – Where Did It Go Wrong?
G-Flux – Champagne Instrumental
Rootbug – Close Call
Baby Bry Bry – What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Nasar Abadey and Supernova – Eternal Surrender
Dawit Eklund – Litchi Juice
Cigarette – Crown
Iritis – Caravan
Echo Broke Alone – All That’s Left Is Broken
Animal Collective – The Softest Voice

Ocobaya – Messix
Matt Chaconas – AEIOU
Smoke Bellow – Conscious Heads
Sun Machines – Mare Island
Drop Electric – Santo Domingo
A Tale Of – 1976
Nitemoves – Grinder
Lo-Fang – Animal Urges
Maxine – Since I Lost You
Damu the Fudgemunk – 1993 Pete, 45 Mix
Mathugh – The Hitcher
Catscan! – Marine Biologist
Patuxent Partners – Victoria Waltz
Art Sorority For Girls – All Year Again (Yoko O.K.)
Buildings – For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
Opus Akoben – Ronin
SCANNERS – Petty Tragedy
Andrew Grossman – Death to Rockville Pike
Reginald Cyntje – Wind

“I think that’s probably the most recurring theme — just having the modern experience of being young and trying to figure out who you are and what you’re doing,” says Andrew Grossman, 28, the band’s lead singer and songwriter. He says the record touches on the experience of “being in your mid-20s and not having a goddamn clue.”

“The Cross We Bear” is the first single from The North Country’s There Is Nothing to Fear, out April 20. The Columbia Heights-based musician describes it as a montage of images that reflect an experience. The song begins in a dream, with Grossman’s wistful talk-singing coaxing it into clarity, and crescendos with a cheery burst of instrumentation and rousing harmonies.

Grossman says the rest of the album sounds similarly “rich and lush,” rooted in Americana rock with hints of psychedelia. He extracted his lyrics from his own life, with a particular interest in recognizing the beauty in the mundane. “There are a lot of lyrics in this album that try to take very simple, seemingly meaningless things, and show that there’s some actual inherent beauty in them,” he says.

The songwriter cites Paul Simon as an influence, as well as one famous Colombian writer: Gabriel García Márquez. The late author of One Hundred Years of Solitude was a “big influence in how I was writing these lyrics,” Grossman says. “He will often take something very mundane and simple and show its significance.”

García Márquez’s magical realism comes through in Grossman’s songwriting, particularly when he combines ordinary memories with rosy instrumentation. “We’ll call it psychedelic realism,” he jokes. “Let’s go with that.”

The band’s songwriting process involved “fooling around on instruments” and a lot of drafts, Grossman says. Overall, the process could take about 20 minutes or several months. “I like to think of writing songs not as deciding what a song is going to be, but listening to what the song tells you it should be,” the musician says.

While Grossman has been involved in music since high school, the band has undergone plenty of transformations, with a change in drummers and the addition of saxophonist Jonathan Parker. But the fluctuating lineup hasn’t soured Grossman on music-making.

“There’s just a lot of really great creative energy in this city right now that’s very stimulating and also really motivating,” Grossman says. “D.C. is a very ambitious city, so it drives you. A lot of people are very driven in this city, in the music scene and outside of it.”

The North Country plays The Beehive on Jan. 30.