Castle Pines: “Hollow Cause” – all-round relentlessly visionary drive

Castle Pines is a four piece Alternative Rock Outfit from Corona, CA. The members include Leandro Barrientos (vocalist) and Ricky Garvey (lead guitarist), Sterling Fairfield (percussionist) and Jesse Briseno (bassist). Forming the band out of the angst of losing his family’s home in the 2008 housing market crash, Leandro and Sterling decided on writing music to create a new home.  ‘Castle Pines Way’ the street where the now homeless Leandro used to live, became the name of the band and the fuel that pushed the music.

Leandro and Sterling must have figured out some magic formula before they recorded this one with the boys. From the opening distorted squalls and crunchy angular sound materializing from Ricky’s guitar on the single “Hollow Cause” every time a listener rides Castle Pines’ wave on this one it is a mysteriously thrilling experience.

One can only say this about a release once or twice every year. Really, this reminds one of all the good things the Pixies, Radiohead and Wilco have done. This is really a leaping board to the heights unknown Castle Pines could eventually reach.

It is also the culmination of the considerable accomplishments they have achieved during the last few years, including 2 studio albums and 1 live album, plus some singles and a hectic schedule of live shows.

This hard-to-categorize band mixes hard-driving, no-nonsense rock with liberal doses of punk, some grunge and metal, and even a little emo in a few places, with masterful musical chops and mesmerizing vocal arrangements.

The key to understanding this band is to stop trying to figure out what they slightly sound like, and realize that Castle Pines is in its own category.

While “Hollow Cause” represents a quantum leap from their nonetheless excellent preceding work. What makes it a diving board for Castle Pines is the fact that we hear more of the stratospheric vocals from Leandro Barrientos and the song-writing and lyrics that are leaning towards byzantine alternative-rock tendencies, without losing its accessibility.

What makes it still more attractive are the huge production skills and the band’s all-round relentlessly visionary drive. To put it in a nutshell, this rocks you on every level: emotional, intellectual, aesthetic, and mostly your body: these guys don’t thrash around on their recordings like possessed dervishes for the show of it!

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