Pinegrove—Cardinal

Living inside your own head feels abnormal until you realize that the vast majority of humanity shares the same problem. It’s isolating until you understand the barriers you’re putting up and begin to fight against them. Cardinal, the first full album from New Jersey Alt-Country quintet, Pinegrove, feels as if it traces the journey from those exact realizations to and through the process of figuring out where to go from there. From opener “Old Friends” to the appropriately titled final track, “New Friends,” lead singer Evan Hall’s incisive, carefully chosen lyrics examine hesitation, self-doubt, and, eventually, resolve to escape his “solipsistic moods.”

Just as Pinegrove wins the award for “Only (sort of) Country Act to Reference Solipsism,” it also has the distinction of being the only (sort of) Country band to have a song named “Aphasia.” This, I hope, illustrates what I mean when I say Hall’s words are carefully chosen. He seeks out the exact descriptor of an emotion or situation, whether the words “spectral” or “sublimate” feel at home in a roots rock song or not. Both lyrically and musically, Pinegrove is significantly more “Alt” than “Country,” but neither would give a full enough picture of the group’s sound or feeling. Hall’s lyrics are filled with purple prose, yet remarkably straightforward. They’re the life musings of a relatively young man who is just beginning to understand how much of his life has passed him by, but who is eventually redeemed by his realization that it’s never too late to change. The album is filled with little gems like “More every year/I shine light on edges I tried to unfeel/But we gotta do better than that” that get across complex, emotional subjects with a frankness that cuts deep and an “aw shucks” humility that belies the intelligence behind the twang.

Likewise, song structures on Cardinal are often fairly traditional, simple forms uplifted by just the right amount shimmering window dressing or a little push at just the right pressure point. It’s a surprisingly fresh sound, given the restrictions imposed on them by the genre. The present, round tone of the guitar, in particular, often conjures up images of Weezer or Steve Earle, especially when given a moment to shine, simultaneously giving the group a welcome edge and a reassuring familiarity. Despite hailing from the East coast, Pinegrove are also indebted to the acts of the Northwest’s indie rock heyday — Death Cab for Cutie, Built to Spill, etc. They’re clear offshoots of the gauzy, watercolor sound that typified that region’s music scene in the late 90s and early 00s.

Pinegrove feels equally at home with energetic rockers like “Then Again” as they do on the more quiet, introspective numbers — “Waveform” comes to mind. But, most importantly, all of the songs on Cardinal feel like they have vitality and a clear trajectory. Pinegrove are at their absolute best when they can stretch and pull tempo and feeling at will. “Visiting” is a particularly good example of this facility — the track builds and builds momentum before stopping on a dime, then almost immediately churns itself back up again. Similarly, the emotional high point of the record comes in “Aphasia,” when the melancholy number suddenly gives way to an anthemic close, proclaiming: “One day I won’t need your love./One day I won’t define myself by the one I’m thinking of/and if one day I won’t need it/then one day you won’t need it.”

Hall leaves us with a fascinating final verse, “What’s the worst that could happen?/End of summer and I’m still in love with her/And I said forget it./Was it worse that it wasn’t sure?/End of summer and I’m still in love with her/And I said forget it.” He refuses to give us resolution, but acknowledges the strides he’s made by being able to say “forget it,” rather than dwelling on or obsessing about what’s happened. It’s not much, but it is progress. Ultimately, that’s what Cardinalis all about: moving forward and trusting that it’s better to forge ahead than to sit and puzzle on what you’ve left behind.

9.0/10

Essential Tracks: “Cadmium,” “Visiting,” “Aphasia”