03/11/2019
03/11/19
my favorite band from the last year & a half played a show in nashville about a week & half ago. i first heard of them because i made an impromptu decision to talk to the long, curly af-headed guy (now my friend) named aaron by the door who looked like waluigi without a mustache at the family wash open mic night.
it was one of aaron’s first days in this city, so we were just throwing out bands we each liked and whatnot. the head & the heart, andy shauf, whitney, and on and on and on until he said emphatically “well, if you like these people, then you’re going to like this little band called Pinegrove” like he was patrick bateman trying to sell huey lewis & the news’ greatness to jared leto; i was jared leto.
to my car i went & the first song was “new friends” - so perfectly placed as i was starting over again in a new city & listening to a group that would become close to what a best friend feels like.
this was roughly october 2017. i didn’t really start giving them a chance until december, a couple weeks after the band went on a break. i started listening to “size of the moon” over and over and over and over around christmas time because i was afraid to really do anything at all. i was battling with digestive issues (aka celiac disease). it was just a lonely year, and the only music that stuck around for the whole ride was Pinegrove. even though there was no assurance that they would ever return from the darkness, there was always a hope that maybe someday my pal would come back from the lost sea.
after skylight was released last september, everything felt right again; a ‘welcome home’ party had ensued, and the previous year became a vague memory of the past. i’ve listened to the skylight record at least once a week for the last five months. so when my best friend joni & i walked past this apartment building in chicago, it felt like i was waving hello to an old friend, remembering all the things we had said to each other; it was warm feeling. it clarified & made me realize how important the ones closest to me are in my life because they’re shaping who i am as a person, & i’m just the conductor telling them what i want & where i want to be. —
