This last week saw The Holland Project hosting a huge up-and-coming act in the music world. Pinegrove, an emotionally-charged Americana/Alt-country-rock group from Montclair, New Jersey, took the stage in front of a packed venue and kept the energy up throughout the night. The past year has been a huge one for Pinegrove, playing large festivals such as Pitchfork in Chicago, Primavera Sound in Barcelona, and Pickathon just outside Portland, Oregon.
For this tour, they brought with them Lomelda, a folk duo from Silsbee, Texas, and Florist a quiet, mellow, indie trio from Brooklyn, New York. While the small stage was crowded with various synthesizers, drumsets, and amplifiers, Lomelda first delivered a quiet set with bouts of their slow, impassioned loud and emotional brand of indie folk, playing songs from both their albums “Thx” (2017) and “Forever” (2015). Hannah Read, who does vocals, guitar and synthesizer in Lomelda, was rather exhausted from the tour and had decided to play the set calmly, leading to a dreamier interpretation to some of the faster songs on “Thx” such as “Interstate Vision”.
After Lomelda’s set ended, Brooklyn’s Florist took the stage. While it was a rather slow and quiet set, their use of synthesizers and slow bass and guitar lines filled the room with warm notes and dreamy undertones. Much of their melodic performance could be attributed to Emily Sprague’s dilapidated guitar, which she lamented the impending loss of as she told the crowd about its irreparable state.
Once Pinegrove took the stage, the air in the room was electric and the Holland Project had filled up to full capacity. Opening their set with the doubtful yet charged, “Cadmium” off of “Cardinal” (2016). They then moved onto more songs from “Cardinal” and “Everything So Far” (2015) before they played two songs off an upcoming album. The first was called “Intrepid,” a slow, yet building song that turned into an all-out rock jam. As the final notes died out, they transitioned into a second new song, “Darkness,” a surprisingly fast and upbeat song with downtrodden and insightful lyrics. Before going into these songs, frontman Evan Stephens Hall revealed that these two songs are part of a new album arriving in March on Run For Cover Records. During their set, they strayed frequently from the setlist, the crowd passionately recited the lyrics to every song, despite being thrown many curveballs.
Before the end of their set, Hall took the stage and told everyone what a wonderful first time they had playing Reno, paying many compliments to the Holland Project. As a special treat to fans, they dove into a “semi-rehearsed, yet passionate” rendition of Carole King’s “Natural Woman” as an encore. This being their first time playing in Reno, the show certainly was an unforgettable one for the band and concertgoers alike.