Customer Reviews

The High Price of Living Too Long With a Single Dream

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Right now, in little Poughkeepsie NY, I'm rounding out the first semester of my freshman year, and on the whole things seem to be going pretty well. Classes are slowing down to a slow trawl as finals approach, I've been working and playing like a maniac jumped up on too much caffeine, and I haven't been written up in the security guards' slam book once. Even the notorious roommate situation is running much more smoothly than I expected. We don't talk with each other too much, preferring to exist in space without acknowledging each other's presence a good 90% of the time, but we're not at each other's throats or throwing things across the room at each other either, which says a grand something about our relationship. There is, however, one sticking point that continues to irritate both of us equally: we have drastically different tastes in music. His playlist is chock full of pop-punk and emo bands such as Thursday and A New Found Glory. Aside from Sparta and old-school emo like Sunny Day Real Estate (which doesn't really count since the original definition of emo has been flayed beyond recognition since 1994's "Diary"), I won't go near the stuff, preferring the angularity and complexity of post-rock and other left-of-center movements in `80s and `90s indie rock. With Pinebender's debut full length, The High Price of Living Too Long with a Single Dream, I think I've come up with an album that will satisfy both of our sonic palettes. The music works in stadium-sized gestures, with pounding drums, swells of guitar and melodic, emotional singing while keeping everything gritty enough to recall the likes of 1994-era Ride and Swervedriver.

The album begins innocently enough, as a typical alt-rock riff sets the stage and adds a layer of reverb-y guitar alongside it, before launching into a grandiose pummel of heavily distorted guitar and slow, crashing drums. "Varsity," a clear standout, picks up where the first track left off, with heavy, enveloping power chords that again beat the listener into blissful submission. Add to that an unassuming time signature and emotional (but not necessarily "emo") vocals, and you're left with a frighteningly brilliant sonic document sure to please just about any rock listener. "Well Calibrated Moral Compass" is so beautiful, so dreamy, and so well executed that it sounds like a lost classic from the dusty vaults of early-90s shoegaze (check the whooshes of feedback and heavily hazy guitar harmonies for proof).

I mentioned the word "heavy" or one of its variations three times in the last paragraph, and that alone should tell you that this album is heavy, heavy, heavy. Guitars and drums work in sync like sledgehammers to the back of the head, and the consistently slow tempos keep the textures thick. The atmosphere is moody and heartfelt throughout, like an emo-tinged Codeine on steroids. In addition to the aural assault and the loud volumes, though, there exists another layer deep within the music of almost celestial beauty, a dreamy fuzz that's implied rather than played outright.

Whether Pinebender considered implementing that element into their music, or whether it just came as a result of adept instrumentation and a good ear for dynamism, is open to question. But what is for certain is Pinebender's ability to create a universally acceptable piece of modern guitar rock. It's not a classic, but it easily satiates the stomachs of those looking for lots of melody and solid songcraft, as well as the minds of those looking for something arty that always pleases but never spoonfeeds. Who knows... As the second semester rolls around, my roommate and I might beat each other with dirty socks or wrestle each other to the ground over whose turn it is to sweep the floor, but I'm assured that I can play Pinebender at a high volume inside the dorm room and both of our heads will be nodding contentedly.