In The Pines Release Second Single "Sunbeam Dream" from Their Upcoming LP Sunbeam Dream

The history of Rock and Roll is filled with examples of bands whose dedication to their craft led to the radical restructuring of their collective lives. This ranges from the cozy decampment of The Band's output from the Big Pink, to the sinister totalitarianism of Captain Beefheart and Father Yod. For the Cincinnati quintet, the sound of their fourth, full-length album Sunbeam Dream is inextricably linked to the communal nature of the band’s existence.

El sistema nerviós central de The Pines es troba a The Lodge - un antic temple maçònic reemplaçat com a espai multiusos a través del riu de Cincinnati a Dayton, KY. El grup ocupa un racó del soterrani en aquest laberint estès on s'executen i operen Foleytronics - una botiga de reparació d'àudio d'antiguitat i una de les poques botigues del món que poden operar i reparar efectes digitals d'antiguitat. Un subproducte natural d'aquesta botiga és el seu estudi al soterrani del company de banda Peter, una sala plena de diversos efectes de vintage, màquines de cinta i sintetitzadors, on van gravar i produir Sunbeam Dream en la seva totalitat. Tot l'equip d'enregistrament utilitzat

The recording process allowed In the Pines to obsess over the minutiae for the first time - entire days spent on finding the correct acoustic guitar sound only to land on a piece of Scotch tape spread across the strings; hours that would be considered a luxury in other studios focused on trying out various cymbal combinations for a chorus or bridge. Just like they did with their repair shop, the band created a recording space where hyperfocus and attention to detail are not only allowed, but fully embraced.

El resultat d'aquest nivell obsessiu de control és el treball més aconseguit de The Pines fins ara. Sunbeam Dream pren el rock psicològic informat per shoegaze de la banda i aixeca la barra. Amb un èmfasi més gran en la síntesi que passa d'un element textural a un personatge principal en el so de la banda (amb la cortesia d'un Mellotron ressuscitat el 1971), la banda aposta per la línia de la grandesa i el gris d'àlbums com The Verve's A Northern Soul o The Charlatans (Regne Unit) amb el seu àlbum autotitulat, on la producció de les dues bandes semblava coincidir amb la seva visió creativa. Amb Sunbeam Dream, tot se sent més brillant, crisper i alhora nadant delicatament en una boira

More pastoral moods arise in the album’s engaging middle with “Time Shakes” and “Delirium” pushing the band into straight-forward psych territory while maintaining a thick shoegaze crunch. As a statement of purpose, “Hide The Sky” and “Oubliette” speak with the most alacrity. The phrase “the clouds can’t hide the sky from me” seem to come into the world fully formed - these are songs that can be played on acoustic guitars but are at home in a nest of buzzing synths, crashing cymbals and crushing guitars.

The album ends on “All This Noise” - a track that thematically seems to bend itself to the way this album was created. Peace, focus and time-slowing attention as antidotes to the constant swirl of noise that calls us away from the kind of work that we really love - limitations and all. The work - if it can be called work - becomes a dream shot to us directly (PKD style) in the full spectrum light of a sunbeam.