Marigold - Pinegrove: Review
are a New Jersey based indie folk band fronted by Evan Stephens Hall who rose to prominence in in 2016 when they released their critically acclaimed debut album Cardinal. The group entered a strange hiatus in 2017 when Hall made a Facebook post responding to anonymous allegations of "sexual coercion" and cancelled the bands upcoming tour. Their follow-up record Skylight appeared on streaming services in 2018 and now two years later the band are prepared for their proper comeback on Marigold.
Review By Lavender:
I really enjoyed Pinegrove's 2016 breakout record Cardinal and I had a feeling that the band was poised for a big breakout moment. The bands next few years had some strange controversy and a cancelled tour but I even continued to enjoy the music that they put out on their Skylight record. After enjoying the singles leading up to this album and remembering how much I enjoyed their debut album I got really excited for Marigold, and for good reason.
The record had three singles released leading up to it and it got off to a fantastic start. Moment was the lead single and I fell completely in love with it right away. The song pairs a sugary and completely blissful guitar lick with Evan's emotional singing. But the songwriting is the real treat as the track shines brightly here with its compelling visual lyricism and the great performance behind it. Phase is a louder and faster track with booming percussion that much more mirrors a modern indie rock song. It's a good tune but it definitely stands out on the record and doesn't seem like its making the best use of the bands talents. The final single got back on track with The Alchemist one of the most tangibly emotional songs on the record with the crooning anguish soaked lead vocals and a great tangible sense of progression making the song build up a patient and ultimately very satisfying conclusion.
With the brief interlude style song Spiral and the serene but long ambient closer Marigold take up a combined 7 minutes the rest of the album adds up to about half an hour of music, and most of it is pretty good.
Dotted Line is the opening track and it kicks off the low-fi aesthetic of the record from the very start. With rattling punchy percussion and sweet but raw vocal melodies the song works its way through a progression into an extended instrumental outro that is fresh and makes for a great dive into the record. Hairpin sounds like Pinegrove trying to make a Death Cab For Cutie song and they admittedly do a pretty good job of it. It has a bit of a wandering instrumental but the strong lead vocals more than make up for it. Some of the last tracks Alcove and Neighbor are pretty solid ballads that make up a much sleepier second half of the record. The former has perfectly performed setup that leads into an incredibly satisfying instrumental breakdown and the latter has a rustic but surprisingly loud instrumental palette to pair with the touching vocals.
On the other hand Endless slows down to an absolute crawl and while it still has some pretty or catchy moments on the whole it is one of the less compelling tunes of the bunch. Finally No Drugs is a far folkier cut with soft plucked acoustic guitar and intimate vocals that absolutely dominate the mix. It isn't terrible but it does get lost between the bigger and better tracks around it.
Marigold isn't quite the takeover that I once predicted Pinegrove would have but it is still a very good record that manages to surprise you while also making all of its sounds work very well together. Once again it feels like the band has the potential to do something amazing going forward but for now we have a very solid indie folk album that I'll be appreciating for many months into the year. 7.5/10
Check out Pinegrove on my Top 100 Singles Of 2019 list here
