The Pine - Homeless Life - 7

Labels: Owsla
Review by: Andy Malcolm

Four more songs here from a band I really can’t get enough of, wow. It’s difficult to find new things to say about them though, as the music follows on from the LP that came out earlier this year, fitting very much in with that. Melodic and moody emo with a pretty distorted recording. “Homeless Life” and “Eyes of a Father” open things up on a slow note, sounding sad and pressing on through a torrent of guitar and bass. It’s certainly not as catchy as some of the Pine’s other songs. “Jigsaw” opens up with jangly guitars that invoke that indescribable feeling I get when I hear Christie Front Drive, before it builds up into another song of bubbling bass and spiralling distorted guitars. Roger’s distinctive vocals get almost buried amidst the sound on this one. The 7″ winds up with my favourite of the 4 tracks, “Sore Eylids”, which is a faster and catchier song with a much typical structure.

I have to comment on the packaging too, because it looks exactly how emo records should always look. Screened packaging, a little booklet with hand written lyrics, some cool artwork too, and a picture of the band which you can hardly make out at all (which is a very emo thing indeed). Anyway, although it’s not quite as amazing as the LP, this is another quality release from this wonderful band.

(Hey, I got through a review of the Pine without mentioning Evergreen once)