“Montclair, N.J. band Pinegrove's debut LP Cardinal recalls some of the most consistently likeable rock bands of the past 20 years in their most easygoing phases: There’s the rootsy shamble of early Wilco, the wiggly guitar solos and general guilelessness of pre-prog Built to Spill. But beneath the amiable surface is an intense work about one of the most important things imaginable: how to make our friendships really matter.”
“The emotionally charged Cardinal begins with wistful twang and the all-too-common existential dilemma of the young-but-swiftly-aging: the falling away of a past that was once forever. On "Old Friends," singer Evan Hall drawls, "I should call my parents when I think of them / Should tell my friends when I love them." The Montclair, New Jersey's band's sound — off-the-cuff, loose heart-on-sleeve i”
