Pinegrove - Skylight (September 28, 2018) Album • Page 74

I don’t want to step too far in the ring here because I don’t want to kick up much dust. I agree that it was too early for them to post that review. Let the dust settle and get this shit ironed out first.

But I don’t think it’s weird for them to have had the album early. I’m not saying anything that anyone doesn’t know that advanced copies for review is super common.

 

Oh it’s not a big deal that they had the album - everything else just feels icky to me

 

I’ve noticed you’ve been reallyyyy quiet on this whole situation. I know you’ve never been a fan of the band, but still interested in your overall take. Feel free to answer privately or not at all. :)

 

obviously the album was going to get a review. but literally less than a day after the album is out is awful. two days after that article is bad too.

 

Gotta build hype. Lol

 

okay i read the review. barely grapples with what happened at all, basically just says this happened this article came out and this album is out. furthermore, it barely even talks about the music either. it barely says anything at all. this is a rush job, clear as day, pushed out the door for maximum clicks.

 

Recorded and produced by Hall and guitarist Sam Skinner at a house in upstate New York, Skylight focuses on atmosphere and abstraction. While Cardinal was defined by anthemic eruptions of longing, these 11 songs move patiently and often disregard verse-chorus song structures in favor of loose vignettes. “Paterson & Leo”—which originally appeared as a bonus track on Cardinal’s European re-release that same year—is a wisp of a lullaby about a friendship between two men adrift in their lives. Every instrument, from Levine’s drums to Adan Carlo Feliciano’s bass slows to the stillness of morning, while Hall and keyboardist Nandi Rose Plunkett’s twin harmonies build with each verse until they take flight. (Plunkett, who left Pinegrove’s full-time lineup after Cardinal to focus on her own project, Half Waif, is a brilliant presence here.) In divine moments like “Paterson & Leo” and later, on “Amulets,” each slight note has a defined voice.

Little on Skylight merits the emo-revival label that has trailed the band since their inception. Instead, the group leans into the country tendencies that permeated Cardinal. On the closer “Light On,” Hall’s impassioned yelp melts into a full-on drawl, while a lap steel courtesy of Joshua F. Marré paints a rich wash beneath him. With much of the singalong hooks of Cardinal stripped back, Hall attempts to translucently dissect his limitations here. “I wanna talk about/All the ways/Every example of/The shapes/We use to communicate,” he intones on “Portal.” The recording is distinctly raw with few overdubs, evoking dusty alt-country or an indie-folk record from the early aughts. The effect is modest and discrete, especially on tracks like “Darkness,” a wandering meditation reminiscent of Sheryl Crow in her ’90s prime. On “Angelina,” a fan favorite that has appeared on compilations and live records, the desire gets tangled, but the passion rings clear.


Seems to talk about the music a bit...

It’s definitley aiming for mad clicks, but I don’t think it’s a bad review

 

two out of six paragraphs, three of which are just a retelling of whats happened up until now. not what i would call a substantial review.

 

Whatever you’re feeling is alight

Title track may be my favorite on here.

 

I honestly might listen to this because I work in the woods, but Cardinal made me feel super weird this morning. Either way that pitchfork review is a huge mess, I couldn’t finish it

Either way after this week I am deeply sad

 

Apart from the obvious situation at hand, I’m kind of surprised this album is getting such lukewarm reception. I don’t know if I’m getting old and boring, but the vibes on here are just my speed. It’s super interesting to me but it’s also relaxing. I think it’s pretty great.

 

It’s definitely a headphones album for me

Also outside of chorus I def wouldn’t say it’s getting lukewarm reception

 

I don’t get the hate for the review, it reads fine. It talks about the situation. It also dropped at midnight. That, coupled with none of the band actively promoting the album and releasing it at noon on only bandcamp (after most publications have already published their ‘New Music Friday’ pieces) tells me they just wanted to get the album out there. I don’t know what y’all expected. Of course Pitchfork has ulterior motives for money from clicks.

 

Glad everyone is realising this was all PR... something people told you all three days ago... those people being mostly nonmen who saw the red flags in that article... maybe next time listen or at least get ticked off, like, fuck, you didn’t need to know anything about the situation to see the article was dodgy. Welp, we’re all on the same page now at least. I’m not gonna go in a whole TOLD YOU SO rant I get this is emotional for everyone and we all desperately want one of these things to go right just... exercise more critical reading skills next time. If we can get fooled by a semi convincing writer we’re not gonna go very far with this.

But I digress. Pitchfork is fucked. I’ll not be giving Pelly a free pass either.
Also just because obviously pitchfork is out for money and clicks doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be mad or expect more from this rotten out shitpacking industry that is music “journalism”. We gotta be mad. This has to change.

 

Got three songs in and turned it off yesterday. Especially after everything that's happened this week, I feel really icky listening to this. Honestly, it’s just not worth it to listen to this band for me, at least until more of the situation is clear and I can draw my own line. Hope that the attitude the band takes in that article is a real one that helps people, but I’m out. There’s too much incredible music being made by people who don’t make my stomach turn, warranted or not.

 

Jenn Pelly is complicit in the attempted rehabilitation of an abuser and her awful puff piece of a feature was nothing more than a PR stunt so Pitchfork could rush out their album review for maximum clicks. Fuck this absolute BULLSHIT.

 

“I’m not gonna on a whole I TOLD YOU SO rant.”

*Continues to go on I TOLD YOU SO rant for the rest of the comment*

Get out of here with that self righteous attitude.

 

what I meant is that I could totally go on an ACTUAL rant and feign like I'm smarter than everyone and everyone should always listen to me which... I'm not and they shouldn't. It's not about "I told you so" because it's not about me or my words being gospel, it's about you guys and how you reacted to this stuff. I know yall are smart enough to look at this with a hint of critical thinking. You just decided not to. And you were incredibly aggressive to people who encouraged you to look at the inconcistencies yourself, so that didn't help

 

love to be made to feel worse about myself than I already do

 

Have you listened to Fire Is Motion? They're pretty similar but with a more grandiose feel I guess. ManDancing is also really great.

 

Look Jake, I don't think you're a bad person or anything like that. Sure, I'm pretty annoyed you were super aggressive to everyone these past three days and yes you totally should have taken a step back and realised there was something wrong with your reasoning. You're not the only person who was wrong about this, I'm not targeting you and I understand that this is a subject close to your heart.
We can move on, you learn from that experience as I'm sure you've already started to do by your own self-examination and when I post about this I'm just reaffirming that two/three days ago this thread and twitter was full of men with blinders hysterically attacking anyone who dared suggest that maybe the Pitchfork article wasn't the goddamn Graal of truth. Certainly not just you. I know you got good intentions. I don't post with the goal to make you feel bad.
But I think it's useful to reiterate that the global reaction to this was seriously wrong and could have been much more measured very easily.

 

mostly i’m just so disappointed. i hate this feeling

 

Were we not supposed to expect a review? The writer in the article clearly had already heard the record?

 

I don't know what you wanted exactly regarding this. You're weirded out they released a review on the album the day it came out? Release day reviews are not uncommon, this is one of six that they released over the last 24 hours for albums that came out yesterday and only one of those albums received a lower score than Skylight. I don't know why you think its a rush job, as they very likely had this album well before noon yesterday. Whether or not it was designed to be a PR piece is up for debate, but the timing is not unusual.

Actually this is a better reminder for me to check out the new Tim Hecker album immediately.

 

the difference between those other albums that came out yesterday is they were announced months in advance and we knew they were coming (and there were no scandals attached to them). this was for all intents and purposes a surprise album release, im sure theyve had the album since last year, but yes i believe it was rushed out the door too soon after the initial article for the dust to settle. under normal circumstances no the review wouldnt be unusual. these arent normal circumstances, however