THE PINE HEARTS: Distant Lights
THE PINE HEARTS
DISTANT LIGHTS
The Pine Hearts
The Pine Hearts are a stringband from Olympia, Washington. They are similar to many young artists in that they use banjo, mandolin, guitar and vocals to perform original songs. The band has varied musical roots. Joe Capoccia is the primary songwriter and guitarist. He has played in both Punk/Pop and Americana bands. Lob Strilla has written a trio of tunes and plays banjo. His background is in Bluegrass and Rock. The band is rounded out with Derek McSwain on Bluegrass inspired mandolin. All three members sing.
The recording opens with “Don’t Let the Stars Bring You Down” a song by Joe about thinking too deeply about the simple things in life. His advice is to just sit back and enjoy the ride. “Paralyzed by Fate” written by Lob follows. This song concerns the universal question of how to proceed into the great unknown. It’s great to know that young people today are faced with the same difficulties we all had to deal with in our youth.
The traditional West Virginia tune “Big Sciota” allows the band members to stretch a bit instrumentally. They take a few liberties with the melody but their spirit is strong and infectious.
The disc concludes with “When it Comes to You,” all about parting and the hope that she’ll someday return.
Distant Lights reminds me of a time when I was about their age. I was a member of a band in the late ’60s and we wrote all of our own songs. We were pretty good but college and all that life held eventually broke us up. Distant Lights it makes me think of what could have happened. Many thanks to The Pine Hearts for some sweet memories.
— Tom Druckenmiller