It’s a season of rebirth for Pine Barons. The long-running Philly indie outfit has been trickling out their first new songs since 2020’s great Mirage On The Meadow, and they’re finding the band exploring exciting new avenues.
“Frantic Francis,” released in February, takes a tentative step beyond the band’s poppy psychedelic rock stylings, with terrific results, but the new “Blue Dolphin” finds them full-on jumping into a new lane with an equal measure of success. In the song, which frontperson Keith Abrams called “a conversation with a ghost about life and death” in a Wormbrain World feature, we hear bubbling warmtone synths and bright melodies with a sort of chill pop / vaporwave undercurrent.
Abrams’ vocals are still clear and prominent throughout, though, still embacing one of the band’s greatest strengths — he’s a classically great rock vocalist who’s unashamed to have his voice out front with only a splash of reverb, rather than a drowning deluge — and the electronic tones both signal an exciting direction for Pine Barons’ next chapter, and create a cool compliment to keyboardist Alex Beebee’s vintage VHS-styled music video.
Watch “Blue Dolphin” below.