VIDEO PREMIERE: Wilkes-Barre electro folk duo S. Pine AK internally reflects on the ‘Devil I Knew’
The first music video from S. Pine AK opens with tufts of overgrown grass leading into a peaceful forest. The hum of insects and wildlife set the mood on this overcast day as the remnants of a dilapidated wooden structure, an old boat, a worn tire, and other discarded pieces of civilization come into view. Unexpectedly, a man dressed head-to-toe in black, with tattoos and black makeup painting his face, steps into frame, wielding a sword as he wanders through the woods quietly contemplating something deeply personal between wild swings at any vegetation in his way.
This kind of instinctive, reticent storytelling guided by curious, unforeseen rhythms mirrors the new music of Robere DeGraw and Gregory H. Gover perfectly, rewarding introspective listeners with the sonic equivalent of a meditative walk through nature.
“Our sound is basically a mashup of Robere’s guitar and vocals and my idea of pretty noises or collages or whatever. There wasn’t an artist that either of us recalled when working on the songs. The sounds that we create together came naturally to the both of us. I’m under the impression that, creatively, we both bring the best out of one another – and personally, too,” Gover began.
“I mean, we make folk songs, and then we fuck them up,” he mused with a laugh. “But, for real, I guess you could call S. Pine AK an electro folk duo? Is that a genre?”
It is now as these Wilkes-Barre musicians cut down those conventions and create a new path forward with compelling songs like “Devil I Knew.”
“Across the board, these songs are just about the good and bad times within relationships, grief, and self-reflection. Pretty much all of the intrusive thoughts that congregate in your mind when late night Taco Bell runs turn into hours long aimless drives, immediately followed by watching ‘Takedown with Chris Hansen’ to soften the mood,” DeGraw added.
“‘Devil I Knew’ is in regards to shifting coping methods that were taking a really negative toll on my life. It’s also about the journey of taking accountability and acknowledging that the work of keeping yourself in check never stops.”
Mike Healy of Disembark Media, who has become known for his high-quality documentation of live local music throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania, directed the video premiering today exclusively on NEPA Scene.
“We wanted to make a visual interpretation of the song focused on Robere’s brother, Mitchel, because we felt he deserved that platform. He’s a very interesting character, and we wanted to spotlight him. We very quickly realized that we want him in all of our videos going forward. We’re in the process of writing more plot-driven videos for the LP that we’re currently working on,” Gover explained.
“Working with Mike was awesome! He’s such a rad person. He’s a friend. We’re still very excited that he decided to join us on this project. We think he did a phenomenal job shooting and editing Mitchel’s behavior and moods.”
“Devil I Knew” is the opening track on “Four Songs,” an EP independently released last month as the follow-up to their 2024 debut, “Two Songs.” Both collaborations were years in the making, starting out as admiration for each other’s previous work.
“Robere messaged me on Instagram a few months after I released my final These Elk Forever album in 2022. We hadn’t met or spoken before, but he really liked a particular song on that album and asked if I was interested in meeting one another and possibly collaborating. I listened to his songs and immediately felt a kinship. We met once that December, and then Robere moved to Nashville for a while. We reconnected when he returned home and pretty much started work on ‘Two Songs’ right away,” Gover recalled.
“I was writing short stories accompanied by ambient musical pieces set in the fictional town of S. Pine, AK around the time that Robere and I began hanging out. We decided to use that idea as the base for the project. We took the comma out of the town’s name because I’m weird about commas in band names. We’ve since deviated from the original vision, and we’re much better off because of it.”
With needless punctuation out of the way, they were soon tracking songs at Gover’s house before entering JL Studios in Olyphant to work with producers Joe Loftus and Jay Preston.
“We tracked all of ‘An Old Mill’ at my house, and then ‘Shady Lane’ at JL. Joe mixed both tracks. For ‘Four Songs,’ we recorded five of the seven tracks with Joe and Jay, and then I wrote and recorded ‘Ribbons’ and ‘Indoor Waterpark with Apricot’ at my house,” Gover said.
“For ‘Four Songs,’ having the short instrumental tracks between each lyrical track acts as a palate cleanser – or at least that was the intention. They’re like creepy little spoons filled with lemon sorbet. But, yeah, I have a recording project called No Warm Feeling where I expand on ideas that sound – and feel – very much like ‘Ribbons’ and ‘Indoor Waterpark with Apricot,’ so we invited those ideas into S. Pine AK.”
The pair’s atmospheric sound expanded exponentially with the contributions of Alex Russin (Cold World), Amanda Rogan (Sweetnest), Dan King (Permanance), Michael Iorio (Elephants Dancing), and Derek Matzinger.
“‘Throes’ was already completed before Robere and I started to work together. ‘Throes’ was a song that I really loved before Robere and I ever met in person. We decided to make it an S. Pine AK song because it’s just such a cool vibe. Robere can speak on Amanda and Mike getting involved in the tracking of that song, as I wasn’t there. I don’t know Mike, but Amanda’s dope. Robere and I are both Sweetnest fans, so it felt natural to include that song,” he continued.
“Alex Russin has been a friend of mine for 30 years. He’s mostly known for his work in the hardcore band Cold World, but he and I have been working on and off together on various musical things for years – never a proper band, just lending a hand every once in a while. He really dug ‘Shady Lane,’ and when it came time to track “Devil I Knew,” I asked him if he wanted to play some guitar on the song. I think I was at his house when I asked him, so he probably couldn’t have said no even if he wanted to say no. But, yeah, he came to JL and played some rad electric guitar. It’s such an awesome addition. Dan King is a phenomenal musician and such a cool dude. And he makes the best deviled eggs ever. And he’s a grill master. And he’s a fantastic storyteller. Just a super lovely person to be around. His cello on ‘Bright Love’ is so beautiful. Both Dan and Alex are going to be back on our upcoming full-length.”
The resulting music has been warmly received since S. Pine AK started performing it live this year.
“We played our first show in Glenside on Jan. 3rd, and have played five or six shows since. We’ve played at the River Street Jazz Cafe, a few very special house shows, and Union Vapors 570. People have been super supportive, and we’ve been introduced to some great new friends over the past months because of S. Pine AK,” Gover noted.
“We have a very cool show coming up on Sept. 27th with our good friend Jason Anderson (K Records, Salinas Records) who’ll be visiting from Canada, and our super pals Rosary Guild and Sweetnest at The Retro Cafe (1139 Capouse Ave., Scranton). It’s going to be a really chill show. Like, really chill.”
As the summer also winds down, the duo is thoughtfully crafting their next album, building a whole new story for the Wyoming Valley to get lost in.
“We’re really just planning at this point, but we begin tracking on Saturday. We have a lot of friends lined up to work on this release with us. Some of those folks aren’t even aware of their involvement yet, but they’ll be told in due time,” he cracked.
“It’s going to be a blast. We have so many rad ideas that I can’t wait for people to hear!”
Photo of S. Pine AK by Weronika Kuziemska
