Review Summary: “Cardinal” is less an introspective album analyzing life’s anxieties, instead, it’s much more an album about handling and overcoming them.
This year we’ve had our fair share of emo-infused indie rock records (“Goodness”, “American Football”, “Camp Cope”) and it has been anything but disappointing, reviving a sound that entreats emotional response from its listeners, often becoming a paramount part of fans’ lives who cling to its lyrics for inspiration and support. Pinegrove debuted in 2012 with “Meridian,” which was an admirable collection of indie rocks tunes, but their second reveals their previously hidden potential unveiled.
Hints of their progress toward there especial sound can be discovered throughout their initial EP’s and their 2015 compilation, which even includes a few tracks from “Cardinal.” But they hadn’t firmly tacked down their sound until this year’s release which take their previous style of indie rock and emo music and adds in alternative country to bring a rise into their music’s mood, which befittingly accompanies their message far more sufficiently. The albums production provides an often “homey” type feel to it and generates the image of Evan Hall’s arm draped across your shoulder as he assures your concerns into oblivion; using anecdotes and conversation as his medicine.
A few small additions that has a potent effect over the album’s appeal are the welcome sounds of the banjo and pedal steel guitar. Each time these instruments make an appearance in a song they profoundly bring the message up to its corresponding mood. On songs, such as “Old Friends” the addition of the steel guitar relaxes the tense lyrical theme of Evan reminiscing on a friend who he didn’t visit enough, whose funeral he now must attend or in “Aphasia”, a song about a person who has trouble speaking and one night triumphs over his disability, where the steel guitar helps hold the mood as it drastically rises and collapses. The banjo also brings a constant bluesy yet comforting feel throughout the entire record but most notably on the opener and the closer.
The themes touched on throughout the record are mostly confronting daily anxieties head-on with confidence and, in-return, ease. Hall never gets frustrated with his inner-walls but hammers away from one day to the next in the hopes of collapsing what often holds him back. On my favorite track “Size of the Moon” Hall converses with a friend about issues they’ve ran into in the past but were overcome with laughter as they were awestruck by “the size of the moon,” firmly realizing how small their problems amounted to in comparison to their immediate surroundings. Like most songs on the record, it begins slow and sets the mood until it builds to the point of bursting, just to collapse and build again. Most songs also reach a point of realization and healing, just like the currently mentioned song ends with the line “I wanna visit the future and dance in a field of light!”
Although it is a short trip from “Old Friends” to “New Friends” it’s a memorable and warm one that initiates many follow-up listens. It was released in February and, for me, it ranks up there with my most listened to album this year. It’s nothing particularly special or original but it’s about as appealing of a record as you can find. When we finally reach the end of the record at “New Friends,” Hall is at his most optimistic when he sings “I resolve to make new friends/ I liked my old ones but I ***ed up so I’ll start again.” Taking risks at this point in the story has become closer to a comfort, and in the end Hall asks us “What’s the worst that could happen?”
Original Link:
http://www.speak-sound.com/single-post/2016/11/26/Pinegrove-Cardinal
