One woman, one project, two sides: PINSKI

Insa Reichwein is PINSKI: As a woman in rock, especially in Germany, she is a valuable rarity. Not only her powerful voice distinguishes the Cologne native, but above all her excellent songwriting. On stage she radiates pure energy, makes people laugh together with her live band, and casually distorts her acoustic guitar along the way.

“The Cologne singer/guitarist is without a doubt one of the most unusual natural talents in our country who shouts out her outstanding abilities – like an elemental force – with empathy and passion.
(…) first-class cast (…) impeccable production”.
wrote ClassicRock magazine in 2018 about the debut album “Sound The Alarm”.

After countless successful concerts and festivals, label and producer in the bag, PINSKI was looking forward to 2020…but then the joy was overtaken by the pandemic. PINSKI lost motivation and her muse, like so many other artists, and her music remained untouched in the darkness for a long time.

But a year later she started to shine again:
Insa went back into the studio to listen to a mix of her songs. And there, sitting back on the sofa, happened to be someone who would be co-responsible for PINSKI’s new album “The Other Side” in the next 2 years: Philip Nießen, former guitarist of the “Heavytones” on TV Total, now producer and guitarist on the show “The Voice of Germany”. The two got to talking and Insa showed him her current demo of “Hero’s Death”, a new song that in her opinion would not be considered for the PINSKI project because the track was, as she said, “way too beautiful and not rocking at all”.

Philip, however, was thrilled! Thrilled by the folky, oriental-influenced sound, he offered to produce it together. No sooner said than done: the two quickly realized how much fun they had and how harmonious the collaboration was.
Philips Monkeemusic-studios in the famous Maarweg in Cologne were the place of creativity, different musicians were invited to create the character each song deserved. Insa brought more and more songs, old and new, showed Philip all her demos she had never used for PINSKI before and what neither of them would have expected at the beginning happened: a whole album with 11 songs was created:

Insa’s calmer, “other side” is finally on record and belongs just as much to PINSKI as everything before it!

“Hero’s Death” became the first single of the upcoming album and was released on 07.04.2023. Paired with a video of studio footage and sand art by the well-known Ukrainian artist Kseniya Simonova, the song represented a strong first release that definitely fueled the desire and curiosity for the album. As inspiration for the song, PINSKI used the tragic love story of the fantasy book ‘High Lord’ by Trudi Canavan.

Hero’s Death” was followed by the mystical epic of the album: “Golddigger”. The initially rather reduced song increases in the course to an emotional ballad with James Bond vibes. It’s about the inability to love and to feel not lonely but at home in these walls of cold and darkness. This loneliness is celebrated in a menacing way that the song emphasizes very well through its drama.

“Golddigger” was exceptionally written entirely on the piano. The orchestral arrangement was created afterwards by Philip Nießen, the whole song recorded live with band. The studio footage resulted in the expressive and authentic music video.

The album “The Other Side”, which will be released on 7.7.2023, will be lively, folky and full of ideas. Yet the detour into rock is never completely missing. Insa’s writing style as well as her distinctive voice remain unmistakable and in any case PINSKI fans as well as everyone else can look forward to this surprising record!