The lines where official bluegrass and old time fiddle music merge is often a blur to the casual ear. What is important is that when acts like The Pine Hearts conjure up a timeless sound melting into a sea of carefree nostalgia to simpler times, all you need is to bow to this style of music. From a dusty tattered cover, it barely takes a couple of tracks for LOST LOVE SONGS to sink deep into your roots psyche.
The Pine Hearts are a band operating out of the Pacific north west state of Washington but they have form for getting around. The album's stand out song 'Wouldn't You Know' even had its origin in Antartica, although in reality it can evoke any rural point from the Cascades outside Seattle to the Georgia woods. This outstanding song delivers the album title in the second track slot. A brave time to peak, yet what follows matches the standard of a trio experienced in cultivating their sound and fully immersed in a DIY approach.
Top quality picking surfaces across the thirteen tracks, far from proving unlucky for anybody fortunate to cash in on this record. All the components of instrumental interludes (fiddle, guitar, mandolin et al) intersperse a ruck of tunes packed with toe tapping appeal. Some songs serenade, some songs long, other rouse, all beckon a bygone age. Folks choose this type of music to escape from the tribulations of the twenty-first century and handing over your ear for The Pine Hearts to fill it with their luscious, heartfelt and intrinsic sound is a smart transaction.
The beauty of delving into top class Americana music is you can skip from up front brash alt-country rock right through to delicately sung folk tunes. Midway through this journey a deviation to old time/bluegrass takes the roots concept as deep as you need to go. The Pine Hearts serve this up in a throughly entertaining and comprehensive way. Ideals exist for bands to chase them, consciously or not. LOST LOVE SONGS goes a long way to matching such a lofty attainment as unfiltered idealism. A delightful set of songs that have travelled far; in this scenario right across the pond to intuitive ears.