The Burnt Pines
Reviewed by Donald Teplyske
The Burnt Pines comfortably fit at the smoother edge always-increasing Americana big tent. With a harmonic vocal style reminiscent of the late- 60s/early- 70s (think Simon & Garfunkel, Donovan) their music is polished in an understated, mostly-acoustic-sounding way. So very appealing to experienced ears. Heavy and Young falls into the loping rhythm of Mother and Child Reunion, while the following Song for Rose contains the sparse, hollow effect of some of that era s Laurel Canyon productions. An album without filler, listeners may make comparisons to The Pines (no relation), The Lumineers and even Mumford & Sons.
A unique antidote to lockdown is offering a magical soundwalk through stunning south Cumbrian woodlands showcasing nature at its best and most fragile. Heading the stellar line-up in a 30-minute audio classic are corncrake, once a common sight in the Rusland Valley, and now regionally extinct after their ground-nesting habitats.
Musicians in a band, but on different continents? It sounds like a solution dictated by the pandemic but in fact it came together in 2018.
To put it another way, the Proclaimers had a minor hit with their anthem “(I Would Walk) 500 Miles,” but The Burnt Pines’ challenge is crafting a theme song based on the 3,187 miles separating their principal members, who are about equally divided between Boston and Lisbon, Portugal.
Guitarist Aaron Flanders is an Illinois native who came to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music where he met Miguel Sa’ Pessoa, a classically trained pianist who was expanding into jazz. After graduation, Flanders stayed in the Boston area while Sa’ Pessoa went back to his hometown of Lisbon.