Band of the Week: The Black Pine

I’d been working on this complex description of The Black Pine that involved references to “dark, stormy pop music,” then went into how they sometimes remind me of an improbable pairing of The Cranes with The Kinks, and wrapped up with a tongue-in-cheek comment about how they appeal to the misunderstood sixteen-year-old girl in all of us. But sometimes I really can’t describe a band any better than they describe themselves...

On their myspace page, they say, “The Black Pine ride around in ghost ships on smooth dark seas under starry skies.” And though that’s a little more piratey than I would’ve put it, that line pretty much nails it right there.

The group sent me their album With Us a few weeks ago and I haven’t been able to stop playing it since. It’s varied … charming … shadowy and sad, but not oppressively so … and nothing at all like anything I’ve been listening to for awhile. Basically, a textbook example of a nice surprise.

Go listen to the song Let Go on the aforementioned aforementioned myspace page for a taste of what I’m talking about -- and then remember to go see them play for free next Monday at The Echo as part of The Parson Red Heads’ residency there.