Pine Barons' "Mirage on the Meadow" Is an Hourglass of Anticipation and Introspection
Pine Barons, photo courtesy of the artist
An essential thing to note when listening to a Pine Barons album is the fact that, no matter how hard you might try to contain these songs to a singular dynamic, you have to let them take their own form. Pine Barons’ songs listen like living, breathing things, and you have to treat them as an ethereal, ever-changing extension of the artists behind them. I spent a lot of time working my way through their 2013 S/T record and 2017’s The Acchin Book before Mirage on the Meadow (Grind Select) dropped in order to find out what dynamic changes the band had in store. MotM contains all of the key parts of the latter two releases but manages to transform the experimental alt-rock soundscape into something that listens like an anthemically poignant and anxious exploration of how it feels to live in an in-between state. With lyrics that divulge feelings of uncertainty and longing, claustrophobia and paranoia, ease and unease, singer and multi-instrumentalist Keith Abrams seems to have poured everything he had into these songs. As it stands, Mirage on the Meadow is a testament to where the band is in this moment in time, and the releases to follow won’t listen the same way, just like the preceding albums fit an entirely different space.
Standout tracks:
“Fearest the Night”
“Sputter”
“Little Spain”
“Paralysis Rex”
Keith was kind enough to share what he’s been up to these last few months, where he feels Mirage on the Meadow fits in Pine Barons’ discography, and how the band has evolved into its current dynamic. A project between Philly Live and Pine Barons has been a long time coming for me, and I truly am so thrilled to be able to share this piece. I don’t say AOTY lightly, but Mirage on the Meadow is most definitely in the running. Stream it below or wherever you find music.
Are you able to draw on any of the notable changes that the band has undergone in order to really pin down its sound? Listening to the S/T album, then The Acchin Book, and then the singles off of Mirage on the Meadow in chronological order show a definite maturation. What was that process like?
Keith Abrams: The band has gone through several different phases, sonically and mechanically, over the years - some of which resulting in and from multiple casts of members and dynamic vibe shifts. I had been wanting to really hone in on sculpting a more focused sound for the band so we all decided I would more or less just take the reins on the songwriting and production side of things.
Do you think the way Mirage on the Meadow sounds is what you’ve been trying to work toward? Or do the next two albums you’re working on push that even further? Is this a constantly-evolving project or do you feel content yet?
Keith: I think Mirage on the Meadow captures the essence of the course of time and places that it was created in. I'm really happy with the way it came out. The next album will most definitely sound different from this record, but I'm sure it will also share some inevitable similarities as well.
Have any of these tracks felt like they were a long time coming, but you just didn’t know how to properly put them together or maybe phrase lyrics/instrumentation until now?
Keith: Not necessarily, most of the songs became fully realized demos within a day or two of working on them. I wanted to write music and lyrics that weren't heavily disguised in metaphors and such. It takes a lot of self-control for me to not blow ideas out into the abstract world, so training myself to write in a way that is more traditionally poetic or more simplistic, so people can actually relate, it became more important to me. I wanted the music to be a carefully crafted composition.
What are you trying to say with these songs? One of my favorite things about a Pine Barons track is how obscure the lyrics are. I’ve listened to “Chamber Choir” a million times, truly, and still those lyrics listen like a puzzle to me. I love them for it, but I’m wondering if you still want these songs to challenge your listener, or are you trying to be more upfront with the message?
Keith: For the songs on this record, I didn't want it to be a challenge to listen to or to understand, I wanted it to be a bit of an adventure to listen to, swimming through a spectrum of emotions, but, at the same time, for it to be engaging and unpredictable. I wanted the songs themselves to act patient and collected within their own.
Emily: I think, as far as the singles go, “Colette” is the only one that I had to really sit down with and try and piece together the lyrics. That was one definite difference I noticed between albums. The lyrics are sort of right there for you. They speak for themselves. But also, you still were able to maintain that sporadic sense of ambiguity which rocks.
What are you the most proud of about this album? What are you dying for people to know about what went into putting this together?
Keith: One of the greatest parts about recording this record was having the opportunity to use our friend's lake house for a whole week to set up a studio throughout the house and get a good amount of the basic tracking done - drums, bass, guitars, whatever we could fit in while we were there. Being secluded in a nature-rich environment was such a wonderful way to focus. The rest of the record was mostly done in my bedroom. I mixed the record in my room as well as two other reference locations.
How do you feel about slowly releasing singles over the course of this year when you can’t immediately tour the full release yet? Were you ever discouraged by not being able to showcase these songs to an audience, or do you feel like this album can stand on its own without the added level of a live performance?
Keith: I have had feelings of discouragement, but I quickly try and point my focus to the future and moving forward. I think the album does speak for itself, but I do wish and hope to perform it to a live audience. Playing the songs together as a band again has been feeling really great as we've been getting back into rehearsing.
How are you going to celebrate Friday under these new and strange circumstances? Had things been normal, what would you have done for the premiere?
Keith: On Friday, we will be traveling to a magical forest in upstate New York to film a live performance production of the album. I'm very excited about that.
How have you been handling quarantine? Are you staying creative or taking a break? What are you listening to/do you believe in “listener fatigue”?
Keith: When the quarantine started, my daily routine really hadn't changed too much. I spend most of my time at my studio which is just around the corner from my house, so I basically had two quarantines to choose from. It kind of kept me from getting too much cabin fever. The only difference was that all my productions were put on hold, as they still are. In place of working on other artists’ records, I've put all my time into focusing on the next two Pine Barons albums. I get listener's fatigue quite often, so I listen to a lot of ambient music, a lot of Ryuichi Sakamoto recently, and movie soundtracks.