Pine Barons

Born among the pitch pines of southern New Jersey, Pine Barons is a project that came to fruition as friends gathered around campfires in the nature-rich environments of their hometowns. The band’s beginnings can be traced back to the members getting to know their instruments in their parents’ basements as well as outdoors, adventuring around, exploring an eclectic and intimate palette of punk, jazz and experimental rock.

The band’s debut LP, The Acchin Book (released in 2017), possessed a unique quality from the auxiliary instruments and recording techniques used; feathered paper dragged across paintings, field recordings in the woods at night, accordion, string arrangements and bowed guitars all contributing to the various moods and textures of the record.

Pine Barons’ follow up effort, 2020’s Mirage On The Meadow, released during the throes of the pandemic, was a more insular effort, as all songs were written, produced and engineered by frontman & multi-instrumentalist, Keith Abrams, who explored themes of human connection while acknowledging impermanence and death’s inevitability. Sonically, Mirage On The Meadow is a psychedelic amalgamation of graveyard shifting indie rock – full of the dread we all experience while retaining a cautious optimism that propels its rich, colorful sound towards a brighter future.

During the mixing process, Abrams stumbled upon the music of cult favorite Japanese band, Fishmans (active throughout the late 80’s and 90’s) and fell in love with their peerless mix of dream pop, psychedelic rock, trip-hop and dub/reggae. Unable to speak the Japanese language himself, Abrams set out to discover what the lyrics actually meant, and with the help of a Japanese-speaking friend, came up with lyrical English interpretations of the late Shinji Sato’s words. After Sato’s copyright successor passed along his blessing to move forward, I LOVE FISH was officially born.

I LOVE FISH is a tribute album in the truest sense. Also produced and engineered in house, Pine Barons (whose current lineup includes Keith Abrams, guitarist Brad Pulley, bassist James Tierney, keyboardist Alex Beebe and drummer Miles Young) brings its own flavor to the arrangements and compositions that comprise nine Fishmans songs, including ambitious fan favorite, the 30-minute plus “LONG SEASON”, a song that has never been attempted as a cover before. Abrams recalls hearing Sato’s voice for the first time, noticing that “without even knowing what the lyrics were, I felt such a strong connection to the voice that sang them. It confirms to me the genuine beauty of that voice and how universal music truly is."