Biography

Last year, Plankeye reinvented itself, turning from their power pop/punk past and showing a streamlined musical maturity that came with age, and the maturation of their abilities as strong songwriters and powerful adult rock performers. Fans are wondering how they're going to follow that brilliant year of resurrection, and the album that contained the awesome hit anthem "Goodbye."

Our mission with this album is the same as it was with our last album, Relocation, in that is to write lyrics and music to the best of our ability," Plankeye co-leader Luis Garcia says about his bands new work. "In this, Eric Balmer and I strove to challenge ourselves in every way. We chose to embrace our circumstances and do everything differently -- from recording, working with a new engineer and trying techniques, to letting our new drummer Louie Ruiz and guitarist Kevin Pousch have an active voice in the direction of the new songs."

While these new situations caused a combination of anxiety and excitement in the band, it also helped them create (and self-produce, with the magical engineering assistance of fellow alternative music vet Chris Colbert) their freshest sounding, and most substantial collection of songs yet.

Eric says, "We're experimenting, but we're not trying to cater to any particular audience. If this occurs it's incidental. What's important is that music in being immaterial has the ability to touch the soul in ways that no other art form can and I want our music to penetrate bone and marrow in the way that a lot of music does for me."

Some might claim this album is a return to the bands roots, that it sounds closer to the sound of their earlier albums.

"We weren't trying to recapture anything really," Luis says. "Although we were purposefully trying to get a raw recording. We hoped to capture the emotion of the song rather than the perfect performance."

The songs -- with intense sound and intriguing titles such as "Chemicals and Sleep" and the hauntingly beautiful "My Daughter" among them, also feature the additional tonal touches of Eric's wife, Beth, on keyboards and violin.