Pinegrove formed in Montclair, New Jersey in 2010, and spent their early years self-releasing their music and performing at DIY shows.

The band's frontman, singer-songwriter Evan Stephens Hall, however, decided to return home, where he and drummer Zack Levine produced Cardinal.

Following its release and the members' graduation from college, Pinegrove relocated to Brooklyn, New York, considering it a necessary move to garner more notoriety.

Reviewers also noted strains of heartland rock,[5] Americana, pop punk,[6][7] and emo music in its stylistic origins.

[5] Writer Collin Brennan, in his review for Consequence of Sound, said Cardinal "evokes the stars and the woods and the vast open spaces of America.

"[9] Reviewers frequently cited Wilco as a point of reference for the music on Cardinal,[6][9][7] though Hall narrowed down the band's lineage to My Morning Jacket and Bon Iver.

Doug Hall contributes piano on "Waveform" and Mike Levine adds lap steel to "Old Friends", "Then Again", and "Aphasia".

"On the one hand you’re always looking for interesting content that speaks to the human condition but on then on the other, your friends don’t really want to be objectified like that," he said in an interview not long after the album's release.

[23] An expanded edition was released in Australia in July 2016, including two live recordings (dubbed Schuylkill Sessions) and demos.

and the World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die,[21] and headlined for the first time nationally between June and August 2016, supported by Sports, Ratboys, and Half Waif.

Pitchfork's Ian Cohen wrote that "Cardinal feels like one big determined push outward, an album-length fight against solipsism without losing your sense of self in the process.

"[6] Collin Brennan at Consequence of Sound described it as an album "that keeps one foot in the past but occasionally looks toward the future with loud guitars, uplifting choruses, and a prevailing sense that life is best listened to with the volume turned all the way up.

"[21] Josh Terry of the Chicago Tribune was effusive, opining that "With Cardinal, I don't think there's a more confident display of a new songwriting talent in recent memory.