PINSKI: We All Stole From the Apple Tree- EP (release date November 27, 2020)

But Is It Progressive

Let’s Get Right To It

I’d call the music on this EP Hard Rock with Progressive Pop Touches- or some such label-making jargon.

More Importantly

PINSKI, German guitarist/vocalist/composer INSA REICHWEIN‘s brainchild, makes some pretty great music.

For me, the foundation and central focus is INSA‘s voice- one of the superior vocalists I’ve come across operating in the progressive rock and rock universe.

But Wait, There’s More

PINSKI has apparently been operating since 2016; “We All Stole From the Apple Tree” is the band’s second release. The debut release was “Sound the Alarm“.

INSA has assembled a self-assured band: Stephan Schöpe – drums; Ian Alexander – guitar/vocals; Chris Streidt/Korbinian Stocker- bass; and Leon Würschinger on keys.

Four Tracks

“We All Stole From the Apple Tree” opens with “TROUBLESEEKER“- with an infectious guitar lick in octaves; the full band then explosively enters setting the stage for THAT VOICE.

As mentioned, INSA uses a full range of vocals, from tender and breathy, to pulsating with power- it’s as though she finds an inner turbo-boost, and when she shifts into high gear- watch out.

Meanwhile the band skillfully moves from catchy to heavy to subdued and back again, with Stephan’s powerful drumming, Ian’s clean and distorted tasty playing, and Korbinian’s rumbling bass.

And ends with a powerful jolt from the entire band.

DARK

Here, one can get a glimpse of PINSKI and INSA‘s potent musicianship and stage presence.

“DARK” opens with INSA‘s strummed acoustic guitar- then the fireworks start with another explosive guitar/bass/drums attack. There are fiery, metal interludes, then things settle a bit while INSA sings in her heartfelt, expressive style- and again explodes.

Check out some of that tasty drumming and bass guitar work. On this track we also see keyboardist Leon Würschinger.

QUESTIONS

INSA opens with solo, vulnerable vocals, burgeoning into harmonies, then a gentle acoustic guitar backing.

Then with bass and drum accents, and subtle guitar work, it builds into a passionate refrain, richly harmonized.

Emotions, moxie, heart, power.

Music subsides, just a touch of atmospheric guitars, throbbing bass, and tasty drumming, and vocals resume…and build…heavier guitar, and with intensity that subsides a bit.

Back to that tender voice and the slightest guitar- and the impassioned refrain that worms its way into your heart.

Then, what’s this- almost a menacing closing that rumbles to a halt.

APPLE TREE

The title track (are we getting into Biblical territory here?) opens with an electronica burst and INSA‘s uptempo vocals. The band comes thumping in, while the vocals harmonizing in an insanely catchy refrain.

INSA‘s voice soars, always commanding, and back to the rapidly voiced “Oh my Lord how can you not see? We all stole from the apple tree!”

SO…

Let’s sum up.

On this EP, PINSKI establishes itself as a band to watch- and to HEAR! Producing impassioned, heartfelt, cleanly-phrased and crisply-composed progressive pop music, PINSKI– and INSA have the goods.