Tuesday, February 16th, 2016 | ae@technewsiit,com .:E a 5

Reviews:

Don’t call it folk rock: Pinegrove defy definition on new album ‘Cardinal’

Soren Spicknall
WIIT STATION MANAGE R

It doesn’t really make any sense,
but Pinegrove lead singer, Evan Stephens
Hall, often sounds like he has a Southern ac—
cent when he sings. Though Pinegrove hails
from New Jersey, listening to just the first ten
seconds or so of the band’s latest album, you
might mistake them for a fairly generic Nash—
ville alt—country group. After that, everything
changes, but not quite in the dramatic fashion
you might expect. Though all the hallmarks of
a folk rock group are present (mandolin, slide
guitar, tambourine,) it’s abundantly clear that
Pinegrove are more akin to alt—punk than any—
thing else, despite the fact that there are very
few specific elements that you could point to
that individually identify them as such. This
genre nonconformity, seemingly crafted with
ease, characterizes the entirety of Cardinal,
which was released on Run For Cover Records
last Friday, marking Pinegrove’s first foray into
traditional commercial territory.

Formed by three brothers approxi—
mately six years ago, Pinegrove has grown into
a slightly larger group with the addition of
Nandi Plunkett of Half Waif, a moody Brook—
lyn pop group. She appeared on their previous
album and a couple EPs, but has never been
used to the same wonderful extent that she ap—
pears in Cardinal. Her harmonies mark all of
the album’s first three tracks, but in a manner
restrained enough to avoid dominating Hall’s
lead. Hall himself is as introspective as he’s ever
been, moving with ease between dark observa—
tions both literate and plainspoken, sometimes

simultaneously (“If I did what I wanted, then
why do I feel so bad?”) It would be easy to pro—
claim Hall’s songwriting to be simply angst—

Newest Pixar movie delights,

Austin Gonzalez
OPINION EDITOR

Did you watch Finding Nemo and
say to yourself, “I like this movie I just wish
is had more dinosaurs in it?” Did you like the
story of The Hobbit, but instead of a protago—
nist leaving home to travel to a misty mountain
to defeat a dragon, you wanted a protagonist
coming home by travelling to a misty moun—
tain and defeating a pterodactyl? Do you like a
classic story that involve an unsure protagonist
who finds himself journeying vis—a—vis an epic
journey and dinosaurs? Then The Good Dino—
saur will be right up your alley!

Work started on The Good Dino—
saur in 2009. It has been a turbulent road with
this $200 million production. With total costs
for the movie closing in on half a billion US
dollars, suppose The Good Dinosaur will be
Disney’s biggest flop since Cars 2. The problem
with the movie is there’s nothing new as far as
character and story.

The audience is introduced to a
world where the mass extinction Chicxulub
Asteroid never hits and Dinosaurs continue to
have a hold over much of the planet. They’ve
learned to speak English and are now even ag—

riculturalists. 3 young baby Apatosaurus (big
plant eating dinosaurs with long necks) are
born and much to the surprise of no one, the
runt of the litter, Arlo, is the main protagonist
for the film. Arlo is weak, afraid, and feels un—
worthy in the shadow of his bigger, more com—
petent, fearless siblings.

Everyone gets to make their mark on
the family corn silo once they’ve earned it. One
thing leads to another, parents die in the classic
Pixar fashion and Arlo is whisked away by a
raging river. Arlo has to trek through the un—
known to find home again. Through his peril—
ous adventure, we learn the morale of the story.
Being afraid is OK. Fear is a part of life; it’s how
we deal with that fear that makes us who we
are.

The story is fine, but what’s truly
amazing is the water effects. The computer
generate water effects in this movie are beyond
mind blowing. For a second I thought I was
watching a demo reel for the latest and great—
est flow dynamics simulation and not a movie
about a little Apatosaurus. The B roll at the end
of the movie is a game of “figure out how on
Earth you might distinguish it from reality.”
The decidedly goofy style of the characters in
the movie contrast the amazing advancements

Adveriise in

TechNews

 

Image courtesy of Pinegrove

ridden, but the general atmosphere created
by his lyrics has more emotional maturity and
genuine heft than most of the countless groups

leaves viewers

in technology. 70% of the shots in The Good
Dinosaur are so called effects shots where en—
hanced particle and lighting effects are used to
take your brain and launch it into outer space.
Every frame of painting has never been truer
for a Pixar film.

At the end of the day, The Good Di—
nosaur’s frustratingly familiar plot may leave
you wanting more. It’s a classic tale of adven—
ture, discovery, and wonder. While it doesn’t
come close to the impeccably high caliber of
Pixar’s other movies, it’s good enough to see
and makes for a good family movie.

One last thing to note, unrelated to
whether or not the movie is worth seeing. The
Spanish title for this movie is Viaje de Arlo
(The Journey of Arlo) captures the essence of
the movie better than The Good Dinosaur.
Arlo isn’t special and the majority of dino—
saurs in the movie are pretty nice personalities.
There’s nothing about Arlo that makes him
the good dinosaur, he’s just a good dinosaur.
I suppose, for toddlers, The Good Dinosaur is
an easier title to swallow than The Journey of
Arlo.

who have touched on similar themes through—
out time. In this respect, Pinegrove is a stellar
folk group, driven by a wordsmith both honest
and intellectual.

Cardinal is a notably short album,
barely edging past 30 minutes, but it’s quite
possible that any more would be overkill. Ev—
ery song on the collection, from straight— ahead
rock piece “Then Again” to the early Death
Cab For Cutie—reminiscent “Size of the Moon”
(which is the longest on the album, if only by
virtue of a half—minute ambient outro) seems
to slot perfectly into the release’s flow, and any
more might spoil the individual emotional
weight of each composition. While you could
much more easily envision Pinegrove opening
for Basement (who they not coincidentally are
label—mates with) than for Dawes, the band’s
inclusion of organic instruments and robust
male—female harmonies makes them some—
what unique in their genre, and potentially
compelling to a wide variety of audiences. This
isn’t folk punk, not by a longshot; Pinegrove
certainly wouldn’t fit in with Defiance, Ohio
and Andrew Jackson Jihad. It’s not the same
sanitized alt—rock/ folk blend that we’re used to
hearing from groups like The Lumineers and
Hozier, either. Instead, Cardinal contains all
the vigor and cutting passion of late—90s punk,
with all the acoustic embellishments of your
friendly local Americana performers. It’s a bit
of a strange blend to wrap your head around
on paper, but it works remarkably well to the
ears. If we hear more albums of this qual—
ity from Pinegrove, you’re guaranteed to see
a greatly expanded following rise up around
them. 9.0/10

wanting more

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TH_E GOOD
DINOSAUR

NOVEMBER 27

IN 3D AND REAL D ED

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Image courtesy of movies.disney.com

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