Once upon a time, in a small town in New Jersey, everyone wore the same shoe when October hit: the Blundstone. Montclair, New Jersey (French for “clear mountain”) is not quite mountainous. Rather, it’s a small city-like town with an emerging nightlife, great restaurants and a major creative / artistic presence. This mini city is full of life, both socially and environmentally. Its parks are saturated with color in every season, its views of New York City peer out at the top of the town amongst the leaves. Sticks snap under the feet of high school students in their light hiking boots in the early fall mornings. Blundstones are a nature shoe with a chelsea boot facade. They are the perfect comfortable and casual all-purpose boot. Blundstones ran Montclair High School, where granola meets urban (odd juxtaposition, I know).
All throughout high school, I loved the band Pinegrove. The band, with members Evan Stephens Hall, Zack and Nick Levine, Adan Carlo, Josh Marre, Nandi Rose Plunkett, and Sam Skinner, formed in 2010 in my very own hometown. The sounds of my teenage years involve the voices and melodies of Pinegrove. If anything, the band transformed my once narrow music taste into one of range and versatility. The sounds of Pinegrove not only connected me to a new genre of music but also emphasized my connection with the sights and sounds of my hometown.
“Beyond my window a thread of light lives with Manhattan island on the horizon” (“Dotted Line” by Pinegrove).
Ever since coming to college, listening to Pinegrove has changed from an enjoyment to nostalgia. The band’s songs are always referring to the topography of Montclair and the New Jersey area. Lyrics about the Montclairian buzz skies, the Port Authority, and Garden State Parkway exits brings me right back home. One day in sophomore year, I was sitting in a tucked away spot on the AU quad listening to Pinegroves and felt an enormous wave of homesickness. On the bus ride back to my room, I wrote this journal entry:
I am listening to “Visiting” by Pinegrove. I spent the whole day with the band on shuffle. Not a song goes by that doesn’t remind me of home. The instruments, strumming patterns, and rasp of Evan’s voice transports me back to my car at home, my high school amphitheater, my childhood kitchen, and my parents’ faces.
Recently, the band has gained a rather late popularity from their song “Need 2” on their debut album due to TikTok exposure. This could not have been worse timing: the band announced their indefinite hiatus from music this year. Nonetheless, Pinegrove is finally growing past the New Jersian fan base. Their latest release on streaming services and Youtube is their final live performance at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcpeI1mGIFg
When I studied at Vermont for a semester, the first thing I noticed about the student body was their shoes. Almost everyone was matching me with Blundstones. It made sense: Vermonters are avid hikers and outdoorsy. In one of my music history classes on the first day, our ice breaker was to name artists we like, and someone mentioned Pinegrove. No wonder UVM reminded me of Montclair so much.
