A Tentative Return
Pinegrove
Marigold
The latest full-length from Montclair, NJ indie band Pinegrove comes with a giant asterisk. At the end of 2017, frontman and primary songwriter Evan Stephens Hall revealed that he had been accused of “sexual coercion” through “verbal and contextual pressure.” According to Hall, the accuser requested the band shelve their forthcoming album and take a year’s public hiatus, during which Hall should seek counselling, all of which Hall and the band agreed to. Marigold, primarily written and recorded during this period, asks listeners to make some hard choices. Do you continue to support a band whose primary creative force has acknowledged their own previous sexual impropriety? Marigold is a record of choices, both the creative ones made by its contributors, and the ones we as listeners are forced to make.
Hall has cautioned against any sort of narrative or diaristic reading of the record and anyone listening to Marigold without this context — a realistic probability given how central playlists and algorithms now are to most people’s listening habits — will find little to suggest that the record was born out of such circumstances. Hall continues to preaches self-reliance, community and acceptance over emo- and alt-country-tinged indie rock.
Where Hall previously let words tumble out of him, here the songs unfold with greater purpose, the verses and choruses more defined. It is both physically rousing and emotionally moving. Reframed in context, however, it becomes a much more personal and specific record. Lines like “I’m in this moment, and I can’t see past it” or “Do I do my thing and just keep my head down?” take on new meanings, muting the record’s highs and deepening its introspection. Adjudicating Marigold’s artistic merit will depend on the choices made by listeners. Do you engage or ignore? Take at face value or listen in context? Marigold itself offers no clear answer and maybe that’s its greatest achievement. (Rough Trade)
Is the band’s hiatus reflected in the finished album?
Hall: This is something that I’ve experienced and it’s impacted who I am. I already tended towards introversion and introspection, but I think that that’s pushed me even further in that direction. You’ll find a lot of my reflections on it on the album. It’s not a non-fiction or account, it’s not diaristic. I am taking things I’ve learned or observed throughout that year and including them in various ways. Hopefully, you take the listener through a process of self-reflection.