Grown in the black dirt of Flyover Country, Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based alternative rock band Amos Slade has embraced its prairie roots. Other artists, hungry for poetic material, feel compelled to leave the Midwest for richer coasts. Amos Slade claws for meaning in the ground beneath its feet.

The lesson of that black dirt is death, and is one fully embraced by singer-songwriter Nick Engbers in the band’s debut LP, Hungry Earth, which is set to be released May 21, 2013. “It’s about living life in light of death,” Engbers sums up, “a hungry earth makes earthlings hungry.” The concluding track, “Orphans,” reveals both the album’s telling title and Engbers’ unadorned, humble songwriting: “Oh, how the air tastes sweet with Hungry Earth under my feet. The end gives the middle more meaning."

Sung between Dan Ludeman (Guitar) and Landon Heil (Bass) of The Spill Canvas, and joined by Phil Mueller (Drums), Engbers’ songwriting is the fruit of musicians who came of age in local punk-hardcore scenes, ripened into a pure mix of rock, pop, and Midwest Americana. Recorded and mixed in Sioux Falls by Mike Dresch of Cathouse Studios (The Spill Canvas, Hands, Nodes of Ranvier) and mastered in Seattle by Troy Glessner of Spectre Studio (As Cities Burn, Pedro the Lion, Rock Votolato, mewithoutYou), Hungry Earth leaves listeners ravenous. With incessant touring and rising regional acclaim, Amos Slade promises more shows, more songs, and plenty more hungry life for 2013.

Listen HERE.