The band's lineup is largely fluid and variable, with singer-songwriter Evan Stephens Hall and drummer Zack Levine representing its core members.

Pinegrove's early years were spent self-releasing music – including their debut album, Meridian (2012) – and performing do-it-yourself (DIY) house shows.

Their second studio album, Cardinal (2016), represented a breakthrough, gathering a devoted fan listenership and appearing on many music critics' top-10 year-end lists.

[3] Hall went on to attend Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio; the name of Pinegrove refers to the Brown Family Environmental Center, a nature reserve located in the Kokosing River valley.

[9] Sam Skinner has co-produced each Pinegrove album[10] and performed bass,[11] and Adan Carlo Feliciano[12] and David Mitchell have also served as bassists.

[9] Throughout its history, the band has also featured vocals from musician Nandi Rose Plunkett, who has since ceased touring with them but continues to contribute to studio recordings.

Plunkett, who met Hall at Kenyon College, leads her own synth-pop project called Half Waif, which Zack Levine and Carlo also play in.

[13] Hall posted the band's debut extended play (EP), titled Mixtape One, on online music platform Bandcamp in January 2010.

Spin contributor Rachel Brodsky writes that the LP was received "breathlessly in their microcosm of listeners," prompting the band to relocate east of the Hudson to Brooklyn, New York City, in hopes of garnering more notoriety.

[16] After several years of self-releasing their music, the band signed to Boston-based independent label Run for Cover Records (RFC) in October 2015.

[2] Upon its February 2016 release, the LP represented a breakthrough: it attracted wide critical acclaim, and the band began to amass a devoted fan listenership, which adopted the nickname "Pinenuts".

"[22] In December 2016, the band recorded a set on NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts featuring the tracks, "Need", "Angelina", "Old Friends", and "Waveform".

[25] The group also released another live album, Elsewhere, on the day Donald Trump was inaugurated as President in 2017; all sales were committed to civil rights advocacy.

The band launched a ten-part documentary series about the making of the LP, titled Command + S.[29] Afterwards, they toured the U.S. again between September and October 2017, supported by Florist and Lomelda,[30] with further dates added for November and December, with Saintseneca and Adult Mom set to open.

[31] Skylight was completed that October;[32] in early November, RFC issued its lead single, "Intrepid",[33] and began sending advance copies to critics.

[37] Skylight saw independent release that month on Bandcamp; the group mutually parted ways with RFC after other artists on the label voiced concern about its association with Pinegrove.

The accompanying film, directed by Kenna Hynes, is adapted from a "surreal" short story by Hall with the band acting out "tall tales".

The film's premiere screening featured a Q&A with the band moderated by actress Busy Philipps, and benefitted the environmental action group The Sunrise Movement.

It was co-produced by Skinner and Hall as usual, but the band brought in veteran producer Chris Walla, formerly of Death Cab for Cutie, to mix the album.

All Bandcamp sales of the band's back catalog were donated to Planned Parenthood for a period,[59] with profits from the live album Elsewhere devoted to the civil rights nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center.

[13] All profits made from the band's third album, Skylight, were spread across three charities: the Voting Rights Project, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and MusiCares.

[62] The band have also contributed to the Trevor Project, and to groups protesting construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

"[25] Pinegrove's sound has frequently been referred to as a mix between alt-country,[63][39] an offshoot of modern country music, and emo, a rock genre characterized by an emphasis on emotional expression.

Pelly of Pitchfork notes "this affiliation makes sense: Their music is open-hearted, communal, earnest, lyrical, with a discernible ease.

[67] The group's style has been compared to fusion genre fore-bearers the Weakerthans,[68] as well as Wilco, Built to Spill, "Gillian Welch, and early Death Cab for Cutie.

[7] For Hall as a songwriter, his influences are split between music and literature; he has cited artists such as Stephen Steinbrink and Phil Elverum as inspirations,[69] as well as writers George Saunders,[15] William Faulkner,[2] and Virginia Woolf.