A spiritual follow up to “New Friends,” “Old Friends” is about the band’s frontman, Evan, feeling like he didn’t make time for the people he cares about, only noticing so after the death of someone to whom he was close. “Old Friends” is the opening track on Pinegrove’s 2016 album, Cardinal.
[Verse 1]
Walking outside labyrinthian
Over cracks along under the trees
I know this town grounded in a compass
Cardinal landing in the dogwood
I keep going over it over and over
My steps iterate my shame
How come every outcome's such a comedown?
Lately afternoon with the shades drawn down
[Pre-Chorus]
Kept saying I just wanted to see you
Saying, "What's wrong with that?"
Needles shaking outlines in a compass
Every outcome's such a comedown
[Chorus]
I knew it when I saw it
So, I did just what I wanted
So, I go through with this
I knew happiness when I saw it
[Verse 2]
I saw your boyfriend at the Port Authority
Sort of fucked up place
Well so I averted my stride on a quick one
He's coming back from going over to your place, huh?
I feel like I could forget about it
I feel like I could mellow out
I don't feel undone in a big way
There's nothing really bad to be upset about
[Pre-Chorus]
But when I thought I was getting better
I woke up on the ground
An appointment or a disappointment
A setback, oh, another comedown
[Chorus]
As if I needed a reminder
Oh, I do only what I wanna
So, I go through with this
[Bridge]
Walking out in the nighttime springtime
Needling my way home
I saw Leah on the bus a few months ago
I saw some old friends at her funeral
My steps keep splitting my grief
Through these solipsistic moods
I should call my parents when I think of them
Should tell my friends when I love them
[Pre-Chorus]
Maybe I should have gone out a bit more
When you guys were still in town
I got too caught up in my own shit
That's how every outcome's such a comedown
[Chorus]
And I knew it when I saw it
Oh, I did just what I wanted
So, I go through with this
I knew happiness when I saw it (And I saw it)
Old Friends was written by Evan Stephens Hall.
Old Friends was produced by Pinegrove.
Pinegrove released Old Friends on Fri Feb 12 2016.
In the 2018 Pitchfork interview, Evan said,
It’s about saying what you mean and having the confidence to say it…There was someone who was an acquaintance—a friend of a friend, really—that died in a very sudden and tragic way. It was an accident. I had always sort of distantly had a crush on her, bu...