Pinebarren struggle to come to terms with What You Gave in their sleek, stylish, poised and polished new single — premiering exclusively on Tinnitist.
The followup to the up-and-coming Vancouver quartet’s recently released debut album Past Time, the lush and alluring What You Gave artfully and confidently walks the line between a myriad of sounds, styles and era, mixing and matching everything from glistening new wave keyboards and muscular post-punk basslines to anthemic arena-pop and indie-rock. Balancing those soaring sonics, however, are deeper, darker lyrics about a rusting relationship marred by miscommunication, low self-esttem and a lack of mutual appreciation:
“Such a shame I never understand what you say
Always carry on what you take
I never contemplate what you gave
My whole life in time, a step behind the beat
I can’t find the gold wires that knock me off my feet
“Is it better to know I’m not that clever
Take away any freight whatsoever
If I sever my loneliest endeavour
Will I wake in a state I won’t shatter.”
Thankfully, Pinebarren’s musical relationship is far more stable and productive. Made up of four friends from around the world — singer-guitarist Michael Ferraro, drummer Allard van der Knijff, bassist Adam Terris and keyboardist Jinmo Kim — Pinebarren formed in 2019, working throughout the pandemic to hone their sound and style before releasing their first single Without the Weather in the spring of 2022. They released their self-produced debut album Past Time in March. The album explores the emotions felt by reflecting on memories of people and places, while also looking inward at the challenges of pursuing a creative life as a career. Past Time was recorded at Vancouver’s Monarch Studios and produced by Michael Ferraro. What You Gave was produced and engineered by Danny Craig.
Check out What You Gave above, sample Past Time below, and visit Pinebarren on their website, Instagram and Twitter.
