Pinegrove - Cardinal (2016) [Hi-Res]

After a number of different EPs and years of touring, Montclair, New Jersey’s Pinegrove have offered their finest work to date on their debut LP, Cardinal. The band’s captivating blend of indie rock, pop and country elements is more vivid, fine-tuned and addictive than ever before. Painting his emotions onto these songs with colorful and kinetic strokes, vocalist and guitarist Evan Stephens Hall moves through Cardinal’s eight songs with an unforgettable energy and passion, with a vocal performance that is pleasantly reminiscent of Will Oldham and Built to Spill’s Doug Martsch. Highlighted by the downtrodden nostalgia of twangy opener “Old Friends” and the climactic refrain of “Size of the Moon,” where the confession “I don’t know what I’m afraid of,” is just as much of a sing-a-long as it is an emotional breakdown, moods don’t stay in one place for very long on Cardinal - they are carefully crafted and revisited throughout to continually evoke the album’s central themes of memory, longing and deep introspection.