Pinsky have officially released their new album, Losing Touch, via Sinking Ship Records. The band was kind enough to write up a detailed Track-By-Track guide for PropertyOfZack to fill fans in on the meaning behind each of the ten tracks on Losing Touch. Read up on all of the meanings below!

LOSING TOUCH
This was one of the last songs to be written and summed up everything we were trying to say with the record, so it was fitting that it be the title track. Definitely one of the songs with the most parts or segments,but we worked hard to make sure everything flowed and the song made sense within itself. There’s a riff that happens before the “Take a step back” part, where we split a simple line between two guitars to give a pan effect before everyone comes in at once. Just something subtle and simple to further drive home the “separation vs. togetherness” theme.

HESITATION
The writing and recording process for this was crazy. I had a demo which we jammed on but sounded to similar to another song we were working on at the time (which never got finished, ironically). So instead of hashing it out at a rehearsal, we built most of the song in the studio where we were able to cut, move and rewrite parts until we were satisfied. The chorus was something we stumbled upon early and knew we wanted in the final version. There’s something about how all the instruments and vocals intertwine that made us keep working on the rest of the song to make sure it was on the record.  

VIEW FINDER
This one goes back a bit. Before he was in the band, Mike had come to a 4th of July party in 2009. I had written a few riffs and really wanted him to sing on this particular song. What started as an acoustic/studio side project ended up being a possible Pinsky track when Mike joined the band a year later. We added the music underneath the vocals he had already written and recorded and added a few new parts as well. As Mike puts it: “At that time I was sick of the single’s scene, I was just so fed up with everything.  You can meet so many ladies that never mean anything. At the end of the day, I wanted so much more.”

THE ONLY ONES
This is one of my favorite songs on the record, it has a special place for me. Right after the re-release of Two for the Road, we had started writing songs for our upcoming release. In the beginning stage of the writing process, I got the news that my aunt was losing her battle to cancer, and soon after she passed away. All of us in Pinsky have lost family to that evil bitch of a disease, so this is our tribute to them and everyone else we’ve lost over the years.  

WINTER STREET
For four years, Andre and I have lived in Portland. The conception of our band was in an apartment in the west end of Portland (later named “Rancho Desario).  Rancho was located at 74 Winter Street (see google map photos or our “Still Drinking” video for reference). This place was our practice and living space for two years. Two years of constant partying. The song is our anthem for Rancho Desario, a place that we will have in our hearts forever. Anyone who has lived in a place of utter debauchery can relate.

MONOTONY 
We all work 40+ hours a week, but aren’t big subscribers to the “working for the weekend” philosophy. When we get together at 5 or 6pm after clocking out, we make it a priority to shed the day’s problems and focus on having a good time. Life’s too short to be stressed out about one thing or another when you’re not getting paid to think about it, and most times that problem will still be there the next morning anyways.

BY YOUR SIDE
A song about wanting to be with someone but not necessarily having the confidence to be with them. A song to express putting everything on the table, good or bad. This is another track that we were able to condense a lot of parts into a shorter running time. Rather than repeat segments for longer than necessary, we tried to trim the fat and keep the core essentials of what made playing this song so much fun.  

HALF FULL
One of the biggest differences between this record and TFTR is that we experimented a lot more with different guitar tunings. Half Full probably benefits the most from this because what could have been some simple chord progressions ended up leading to some crazy stuff not possible in standard tuning. Normally we have a lot of full force guitars in our songs but we were able to dial things back a lot on this track and rely more on the bass and drums. The song is about getting to a spot with someone you are so close with but feel so far away from. 

THE OCEAN
This song is about getting over the hurdles of a relationship and taking the dive, regardless of the outcome. It was built around the music and the dynamic of the multiple parts. It’s a story and we created the music as a kind of score to the lyrics. It’s a really theatrical song - with some of our loudest and softest parts on the album.  There’s a really delicate little piano part in the bridge that I love. This is a good one to turn up loud.  

STATES
Another song in a different tuning (DADF#AE) that led to some cool possibilities. Once we realized we wanted the verses to be mainly bass and drums driven, we experimented with the guitars to get the right balance of noodling vs. ambiance.  The resulting hammer-on/pull-off/slides were something we hadn’t done before. Which made it both exciting and extremely hard to play while singing. This is a song about our friends who we love and would be nothing without. Any musician knows and can tell you that if you’re serious about playing, you’ll pretty much never see your friends unless they come to your shows. So whether we were sweating off weight practicing in the summer, or locked away during recording in December, this song (and album) is for them.