Pinback - Autumn of the Seraphs

One of the reasons I love music as a form of expression is that there are almost endless avenues to follow in that expression. A plethora of instruments, styles, genres, and dynamics allows for ideas to blossom in limitless directions, and by utilizing these well, a great artist can completely capture any essence, emotion, or experience. Yet while every artist strives to do so and do so well, so many options can also become so many limits. Adhering to boundaries and standards can certainly make for focused art or a driven music scene, but some acts just need more room to breathe and bloom. Pinback is one such artist, and as their record Autumn of the Seraphs proves, when the right minds are given the musical room to work, what they produce is pure magic.

Coupling an amazing pop sensibility with intricate technical skill, Autumn of the Seraphs provides us with eleven delightfully diverse tunes in which even the most close-minded of listeners can find something to appreciate. Between the slow and drooping feel of “How We Breathe,” the hectic picking of “Blue Harvest,” or the aggressively dark “Off by 50,” Pinback touches upon a wide range of feeling and fury, all tied together with their incredible sense of melody. Rob Crow’s distinctly gentle vocal style disperses pop elements throughout each tune, his singing expertly synthesizing with the deft instrumentation. Even the mix, which was shaped to mimic the band’s hard-hitting live sound, still retains a measure of beauty and grace, implying vigor without overloading the listener’s speakers.

Pinback really runs the gamut of both energy and timbre on Autumn of the Seraphs, carefully selecting each song’s instrumental palate to complement the intensity of the composition. Album-opener “From Nothing to Nowhere” relies heavily on driving guitar and live drums, while the slower, more somber “Bouquet” is loaded with bleepy-bloopy synths. Pinback’s specialty is melody, and in their standard approach, Rob Crow’s sparse guitar work coalesces with Zach Smith’s unique bass style into an aurora of color and feeling. Still, the band does not shy away from exploring other territories, employing electronic beats in “How We Breathe” and relying heavily on keyboards in “Good to Sea” and “Torch.”  

While virtually every aspect of Pinback’s style is exciting, for obvious reasons, nothing gets my blood up more than Zach Smith’s incredible basswork. Autumn of the Seraphs is loaded with tunes that spotlight his unique, rule-breaking style of playing, but no song exemplifies his versatility as a bassist better than “Barnes.” The drums set up a powerful groove from the get-go, and Zach sticks his low notes to the percussion, accenting the rhythm section and slamming his strings on the downbeats. That punchy groove in “Barnes” is what is most important, and although there is a ton of room in the verses, Zach keeps it simple, keeps it low, letting the drums and Rob’s smattered guitar shine. It is only towards the end of the song [2:22] that he finally crawls up into the high register, his fingers winding chords and melody simultaneously into a flourish of beauty. While other pieces on Autumn might better flaunt Zach’s crazy technical skills, “Barnes” exhibits a dedicated restraint that allows his little excursions to shine even further.  

No matter what tune catches your fancy, there is no doubt that Autumn of the Seraphs was crafted by two expert musicians, and this extends to the lyrics. Both Rob Crow and Zach Smith find ways to shape their words into meticulous and multifaceted pieces. “Subbing for Eden” contains some beautifully cryptic images such as “petals falling from the engine” and “cracking velvet nerves.” Similarly, “Good to Sea” opens with a strong sequence that imparts an experience you can hear, see, feel, even smell: “They’re moving earth outside / The ground is shaking like no beat / A dense terrible sound / At once both teeming and asleep.”

Pinback has a habit of being heavily metaphorical in their lyrics, almost to the point of being vague. There is also certainly a level of aloofness to their approach, evidenced by the fact that the album title is just a play on words of a Mayhem song. Still, their writing never fails to match and deliver the emotional experience of their songs. Indeed, the often interwoven counterpoint vocal parts shared between Rob and Zach add further layers of harmony and sentiment, turning their lyrics into moving, interacting sensory pieces. 

This duo can certainly write like a couple of kids sometimes (take the opening line from “Blue Harvest:” “Goody for me!”), but when they do take it seriously, Pinback can combine story and sound into a masterpiece of humanity. Autumn of the Seraph’s best example of this is the tune “Walters,” which shares the extraordinary tale of Lawn Chair Larry, a man who took flight using weather balloons tied to a lawn chair. The song opens into a dreamy strings piece led by Zach’s bass, as Rob croons his respect for Larry’s boldness: “Anyone else would not deserve your life.”

The song then picks up into a slow build of tension and release, the strings moving faster as Rob describes his journey into the sky: “Larry climbs into his lawn chair / waves a goodbye / Unties from the post / Races towards the sky.” The wonder inherent in Rob’s voice soon takes on a measure of danger, before the song slowly slinks towards its sad culmination, a whispered “went out on a hike and never came back again”—Rob’s soft-handed summary of the protagonist’s eventual suicide. Pinback wend this fascinating tale of this real-life adventurer, encapsulating his story’s highs and lows in both sound and sentiment.

All in all, Autumn of the Seraphs is a triumph in its depth, dexterity, and drive. Pinback fashion eleven brilliant pieces of music on this record, using honed technical musicianship and intelligent writing to completely dominate their craft, giving every kind of listener something to love. Truly, I can think of few acts that have such a handle on all things music as Pinback does. Autumn of the Seraphs reinforces how limitless human expression can be through the medium of music, and each listen gives me yet another reason to keep hacking away at my craft, if only because I love the sound of it. 

Tunes to Check Out:

1) Barnes

2) Torch

3) Good to Sea