Instead of the typical pseudo-definitive ranking of the “Best Albums of 2016,” this December we’re trying something different. The Rutgers Review is bringing you 31 days of our writers’ favorite albums this year, from internationally anticipated releases to local debuts to a few guilty pleasures, without caring what critics have had to say.
They say some records grow on you, but I grew with Pinegrove’s Cardinal this year. As I listen to it, I feel as though I’m searching through tall grass to find the meaning of all the hilly smooth blacktop roads with strings of suburban houses staring at me in my town telling me to leave for another place. Cardinal embraces and escapes from home to explore and grow with friends, lovers, and strangers to find the truth behind communication and relationships.
Evan Stephen Hall’s voice, both as a singer and writer, invites the audience into his life and thoughts, rather than isolating himself in self-pity like so many bands pigeonholed into the emo genre do. “Aphasia,” the central song of the album, encapsulates all of Pinegrove’s musical tricks (the swelling dynamics supporting Hall’s crooning vocals) and lyrical themes of miscommunication and relationships. The way Pinegrove manipulates its melancholic musical musings supports Hall’s lines, which crack at the complexities of communication within relationships but then belt with self-discovery and independence. Pinegrove delivers earnest reflection with a sense of hope for finding a home to recover from the anxieties of communication.
In the next track, “Visiting,” Hall captures the wandering and meandering that comes with self-discovery within emerging adulthood when he sings: “The truth is/I don’t know what/I’ma find it.” After walking out of the grass, we all have a home somewhere. Cardinal has definitely earned its place in mine.
by: Steven Coco