Labels: Into the Hurricane
Review by: Andy Malcolm
This is such a good record. In fact, there was a time recently when it was the only record I would listen to. It is a record that I have had two people hear one song off and straight away ask me where they can get it. It is a record that other people I have distroed it to have written e-mails back to me to tell me how good they think it is. That doesn’t happen so often (and Luke Younger even takes great delight in telling me how he has wasted many pounds on apparently awful records in my distro). So I guess this one is pretty special.
There are 10 songs on here, and each of them is fantastic in their own way. The Pine vary their sound subtly between songs, for the most part playing relatively fast, melodic emo, with driving, memorable guitar riffs and a forceful, resonant bass sound that permeates the music and acts as a vital component of the bands sound. On “You’re The Only One I Hate” this really stands out, reminding me of how the Promise Ring used to work the rhythm in their songs so brilliantly. On the second side “Shovelglove” starts off acoustic and builds into an absolutely dynamite track, and the desperately sad sounding “Face Drawings”, are two songs that stand out, yet fit in so very well.
Then there are Roger’s distinct vocals that can make or break this band for most listeners. He has a style that I guess you could describe as ‘whiney’, but that is not meant in a derogatory way. They work with this style of music really well. Of course, the band will engender countless comparisons to the legendary Evergreen (or the similar but less well known band from the same era, Lumber), but the truth is, the Pine live up to such a comparison. Totally.
There’s not too much more for me to say about this LP, it is just a great record that you would do well to hear if you are into heartfelt, melodic emo done with the DIY spirit intact (the element that is so often missing from todays more polished ’emo’ bands), it even comes with a hand written lyric sheet (facsimile obviously) and screen printed record sleeve. Presentation does’t get much better than this.
I doubt if I will get to hear many songs this year that are better than “Face Drawings” or many of the other tracks on this record. At least until the Pine put out more material anyway. Find it.