Pinegrove — NPR Tiny Desk, 2016

Live filmed session by Pinegrove for NPR Music’s Tiny Desk, recorded in late 2016 while the New Jersey band was touring its album Cardinal, one of the year’s standout indie records. Led by singer and guitarist Evan Stephens Hall, Pinegrove blends indie rock, emo and americana accents in introspective songwriting, attentive to words and to what goes unsaid. In the stripped-back acoustic Tiny Desk format, the group delivers four songs — Need, Angelina, Old Friends, Waveform — where vocal harmonies, clean guitars and understated rhythm take precedence over the electric energy of their club shows. The closeness of the setting highlights the warm, communal dimension of their music, which gathered a large online community of listeners. A multi-song live capture representative of the American indie-emo scene of the 2010s, and a fine entry point into the band’s melancholy world. Keywords: Pinegrove live, Tiny Desk 2016, NPR Music, live session, indie rock, emo, americana, Cardinal.