The Pines: Saturday July 29, 7:30 – 9:00
The Pines
Saturday July 29, 7:30 – 9:00
RSVP via Facebook
The Pines were amazing in 2016 — and they are coming back in 2017!! We can’t wait.
“Stunning to say the least. But dazzling overall.” – No Depression Magazine
Called “quietly gripping” by legendary rock journalist David Fricke (Rolling Stone), Minneapolis-based The Pines sound like a Brian Eno for the Great Plains. Their native Midwest is their muse, and their songs explore the vast expanses around and above them, exploring the isolated farms and small towns of the plains and the array of stars that dot the night sky. With Above the Prairie, the trio of David Huckfelt and brothers Benson and Alex Ramsey have crafted their most expansive album to date, melding their lush, layered sound with vivid, imagistic lyrics that celebrate the landscapes and history that gave birth to it. Captured quickly in the studio, the compositions and arrangements attest to their creators’ keen eyes for detail and framing. They blend celestial, ethereal atmospherics with rich, warm vocals and earthy acoustic instruments to create gripping, vivid music.
Finding somewhere to feel at home is a recurring theme on the record. On “Where Something Wild Still Grows,” Huckfelt longs for a place “through the trees, past the city, beyond the glow” where he can be at ease, while “Sleepy Hollow” finds Ramsey contemplating our treatment of each other and our planet as he looks into the abyss of the night sky, and “Come What Is” (which features Ryan Young of Trampled By Turtles on fiddle) tries to find contentment in the present moment. A highlight is a haunting guest appearance by the late Native American legend John Trudell on the album closer, “Time Dreams.”
“People say you can’t step in the same river twice,” says Huckfelt, “but you can’t even step in the same river once, because change is the only constant. Home isn’t the same home you remember, and you don’t get a minute to catch your breath to think about it.”
“Above the Prairie” is also a celebration of the community and history that gave birth to it. On “Here,” the band is joined by Iowa friends and family, including Greg Brown, Iris DeMent, Pieta Brown, and Ramsey patriarch Bo Ramsey, who co-produced the LP with The Pines. With a beauty equally ominous and tender, The Pines have provided a sonic backdrop to the thin veil that separates our home on the land and our home in the cosmos.
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