Pinegrove

Early years (2010–2014)

Pinegrove was formed in Montclair, a township in New Jersey, in 2010. Singer-songwriter Evan Stephens Hall and drummer Zack Levine met in childhood, during which their fathers played in a cover band together. The former two first began playing music together at seven years old, forming their first band, the Pug Fuglies, in the sixth grade. During the next grade, the duo began playing together in Dogwater, an experimental grunge band, which they focused on throughout high school. Hall went on to attend Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio; the name of Pinegrove refers to the Brown Family Environmental Center, a nature reserve located in the Kokosing River valley. Hall frequented the land for introspection. One spot contained a region of pine...

Musical style and influences

Pinegrove's sound has frequently been referred to as a mix between alt-country, an offshoot of modern country music, and emo, a rock genre characterized by an emphasis on emotional expression. The group has toured with acts commonly labeled emo, such as The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, while original label RFC is known for its association with fourth-wave emo bands. Pelly of Pitchfork notes "this affiliation makes sense: Their music is open-hearted, communal, earnest, lyrical, with a discernible ease." Cardinal's success led tastemakers to include Pinegrove among a wave of "emo revival" acts, and while Hall stopped short of labeling the group, he acknowledged his work could be "lyrically confessional,...

Need 2

"Need 2" is a song recorded by the American rock band Pinegrove. The song was first released on May 29, 2014, and later re-released as a single on June 15, 2023.

Background

"Need 2" was performed, recorded, and co-mixed by Evan Stephens Hall, the chief force behind Pinegrove. In 2014, the band had released one album and several extended plays, including &, which caught the ear of a listener in Canada. This fan contacted Hall to suggest releasing a cassette of the EP, with a brand-new EP encompassing side two. Hall challenged himself to write another series of songs with the same runtime, leading to the development of "Need 2". The song opens with a field recording of birds before segueing into a droning, despondent guitar riff. In a Reddit r/IAmA, Hall mentions his satisfaction with the original recording, which was made in his bedroom, noting that while other songs in their catalogue have been re-interpreted...