Evan Stephens Hall

Evan Stephens Hall was born on May 6, 1989 in Montclair, New Jersey, to Tracey Stephens[1] and Doug Hall. Hall's mother briefly operated a women's shelter and was involved in social work,[2] but now works as an interior designer. Hall's father works in commercial music; he is best known for composing the jingle for financial company J.G. Wentworth.[3] Hall's interests growing up included skateboarding—he aspired to be a professional skateboarder as an adult, but suffered a concussion in his teens that sidelined his interest.[4] Hall spent several years camping at Geneva Glen co-educational summer camp located in Indian Hills, Colorado; he was later hired as a counselor in the years before founding Pinegrove.[5]

Hall grew up friends with Levine; both boys’ fathers are in a cover band together—Julie's Party, a roots rock outfit covering acts like Bonnie Raitt and Little Feat.[6] Hall grew up taking lessons at Montclair Music Studio, first learning the drums, then bass, and lastly the guitar.[4] He and Levine began playing music together at seven years old,[6] forming their first band, the Pug Fuglies, in the sixth grade. The next year, the duo began playing together in Dogwater, a grunge band, which they focused on throughout high school.[7] During that time, the duo played many shows at Montclair's Serendipity Cafe, and have expressed the positive impact playing their music in a welcoming and encouraging space has had on them.[8]

After graduating high school in 2007,[9] Hall attended Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, from which he graduated in 2011,[10] majoring in creative writing with an emphasis in poetry. During his tenure there, he also developed a love of semiotics and modernist literature.[1] He worked at a recycling plant through college, which became the namesake of the Pinegrove song "Recycling".[9]

Hall's influences on his songwriting split between music and literature, owing to his tenure at Kenyon studying English. On the sonic side, Hall has cited Stephen Steinbrink, Ben Lerner, Greta Kline, and Phil Elverum as inspirations.[21] Hall's earliest musical influences included alternative rock mainstays such as Radiohead, Green Day, and Nirvana.[8] In terms of literature, he has also noted novelists James Joyce, William Faulkner,[6] Virginia Woolf, and David Foster Wallace,[22] as influences on his work, as well as the short story author George Saunders.[11] Hall has specifically cited Woolf's The Waves and Wallace's Infinite Jest as inspirations, commenting that "they made me feel ambitious, in that they have such a specific worldview, and made me question what I have to offer."[7]

Hall has referred to Pinegrove as "language-arts rock."[10] As a songwriter, Hall has emphasized simplicity and immediacy, viewing complexity as something of a defense mechanism in art.[11] To this end, Hall has depicted himself as a "student of pop music," praising famed hitmaker Max Martin as "arguably the best songwriter of our time."[11] He aims for a conversational tone in his lyricism, believing it expresses meaning more directly.[7] His lyrics frequently touch on themes of communication and loneliness, and more general concepts such as primary color, and geometry.[21]

With Pinegrove

• Meridian (2012)
• Everything So Far (2015)
• Cardinal (2016)
• Skylight (2018)
• Marigold (2020)

As Evan Stephens Hall

• Earth Day: A Tribute to Green Day (2017) (song: "Burnout")[20]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Evan Stephens Hall.

• Official website