A capsule look at Pittsburgh bands making the news.

Style: Starts the trip with indie-folk, veers to alt-country with touches of psych.

Members: Singer-guitarist Nik Westman; guitarist Tom Demagall (Pleasure Technicians); bassist-keyboardist Kraig Decker (Last Funeral Song); drummer Colin Bronnenkant (Gas Station).

How he got here: Westman was born in a small northern Sweden town called Odeshog and moved to Los Angeles with his parents when he was 13 in 1995. (He finished college at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 2002 with a bachelor's in culinary management). "I remember being stoked because I've been a skateboarder since '93 and I was moving to America, the land of concrete! I had no expectations or plans of becoming a performing musician."

The first chords: "I started playing guitar when I was 17 and haven't put it down since," he says. "It became an obsession and I just loved exploring notes and chords, eventually I learned how to sing while playing and I realized that it was something I could do. It felt natural."

Range of influence: The Westman MySpace page accurately notes that the music is suitable for fans of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, The Shins, Modest Mouse, Pavement and the Kinks. He grew up on classic rock, reggae and folk. "Eventually," he says, "I discovered indie rock and Robert Johnson. I'm just a fan of music, especially smart songwriters who incorporate great melodies with poetry."

Alone and together: Mr. Westman can be found playing either solo or with Central Plains. "All the songs are written on acoustic," he says, "I just bring an idea to practice and let the guys build on it and eventually it becomes a solid tune. We walk through sections together and talk about what we need and what we don't need. It's a fortunate situation."

Debut album: New, self-titled release showcases the band's supple playing behind Mr. Westman's rangy voice and quirky lyrical touches. "I've always wondered if our sound is cohesive because we don't stick to one sound. Recording this album was a lot of fun, because we did it song by song. I have friends who have always been very supportive about the music who tell me that my voice brings it all together. I thought was very sweet."

Critics Andrew Druckenbrod and Scott Mervis talk about music on "The Beat," available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.