B-Side Guys

Recovery often begins with geographical reorientation—finding physical spaces that anchor us when internal landscapes become unrecognizable. Pittsburgh duo RH Pioneers explores this healing topography on “Growing Season,” creating folk music that uses natural imagery as vehicle for psychological restoration.

The track opens with sparse instrumental elements and immediately vulnerable confession: “I’m chasing demons/That I found in my sleep/Maybe they’re chasing me/Always have been.” This directness establishes the song’s central tension—internal struggles requiring external resolution. Ryan Hoffman and Amy Linette’s vocal delivery maintains perfect balance between fragility and resilience, creating emotional authenticity that enhances rather than undermines the composition’s gradual build.

What gives “Growing Season” particular resonance is its thematic connection to actual lived experience. Described as being “about coming out of the fog — vertigo, covid etc,” the song transforms specific health struggles into broader metaphor for disorientation and subsequent reorientation. This approach allows personal experience to achieve universal application without sacrificing intimate detail.

The lyrical imagery deserves special attention for how it contrasts internal turmoil with external stability. Repeated references to “mountains and valleys” create literal high-low topography that mirrors emotional fluctuations while suggesting permanence beyond momentary states. This geographical fixity functions as crucial counterpoint to the “elusive dreams” and uncertain definitions of doing right mentioned in early verses.

Most effective is how the song’s structure reflects its thematic progression. The described “slow burn until a triumphant ending bridge” perfectly embodies recovery’s gradual nature—forward movement that accumulates rather than arrives suddenly. When the final section introduces the vocal counterpoint “Wanna go home” against the recurring “I’m chasing demons” refrain, it creates musical dialogue between longing and recognition, between where one wants to be and current reality.

The closing verse introduces fascinating circular narrative through the singing bird who ultimately repeats the opening lines. This structural choice suggests recovery as ongoing process rather than definitive achievement—cycles of struggle and healing that echo seasonal patterns mentioned in the title. The tree planted from seed becomes perfect metaphor for intentional growth following difficulty.

For a band that has been collaborating for nearly a decade across four albums under various names, “Growing Season” demonstrates impressive artistic maturity. Taking their described “long break from shows and restructuring the band” appears to have yielded precisely the renewal described in the song itself—artistic rebirth mirroring personal recovery.

As opening statement from their forthcoming album, “Growing Season” positions RH Pioneers as folk songwriters capable of transforming personal disorientation into music that helps listeners navigate their own uneven terrains—finding their way back to mountains and valleys they once knew.