The Pine, Charlottetown’s newest band, find their stride in a Taupin/John-esque partnership, with emotionally-wrought soft-rock hits being forged through the collaboration of Evan Ceretti (lyrics, guitar) and Spencer MacDonald (key, vocals), and fleshed out by Josh Kilbride (bass), Andrew McDonald (guitar) and Ian Gill (drums).
“This project is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” says Ceretti of his new band. “All these guys are my friends, and I’ve played music with all them. I’ve written quite a bit of material over the last few years, and really wanted to get it out into the world.”
Ceretti may already be familiar to you, along with Kilbride and Gill as members of dance-funk wonders Ultrasvede. With The Pine, however, Ceretti takes the reins as chief lyricist – letting MacDonald shine on the microphone.
“Spencer has an amazing voice, and it’s really great to hear him sing these songs and help bring them to life, cause I’m such a shit singer.”
Pulling influences from 90s bands, along with Kurt Vile, War on Drugs, Air, Chris Staples, Brian Eno, Nick Cave, the band are aiming for an ambient-vibe, mixed with electronics and weirdness.
“There’s lots of emotion and energy to it, and I think you can really feel that through the lyrics and music. I’ve had a rough year, probably the worst in my life, and through that one of the few good things to come from it are some of these songs,” says Ceretti.
“Running From You,” their debut single, began manifesting long before any of those events took place, but re-surfaced for some additional re-writes as Ceretti found a new outlet with The Pine.
“I write when I’m down. I write after a few drinks. I write diary entries. And I write about how I feel, and I’m thankful for that because it allows me to turn all those negative (or positive) things into songs, and to move on and to process the feelings. Without music, I don’t know where I would be.
“Though what happened last year has sparked a lot of these songs in our catalogue, I’ve been writing sad tunes for a lot longer than that,” jokes Ceretti.
MacDonald, who takes his role as the sharp-edged vocalist and key playeR for the band says that belting out Ceretti’s personal lyrics can still be cathartic for him, even if he’s not the one feeling the emotions represented in the song.
“It is interesting,” says MacDonald. “I am not a writer myself. I try to invoke the theme as much as I can when I sing. I like the arrangement honestly. I just like to sing. Also, I am close with Evan so I know a bit about what the material is written about.”
And with a song that barrels in at you with “I’m running from you and your car, you’re driving directly at me,” you can be damned sure these lyrics are emotionally charged.
The band also worked with Bruce Rooney (Coyote, Yak Bak, Adyn Townes, Logan Richard) to record and produce “Running From You” along with their next single this song.
“It wouldn’t have been possible without him. He really helped bring these songs to life,” says Ceretti.
The Pine currently have no performances set, and say they probably won’t for a while yet. In the meantime, they’ll be practicing, and turning out a couple more singles.