Pinback’s been awfully quiet of late. With only a 2008 tour EP (Ascii) and an appearance on Yo Gabba Gabba since their 2007 full-length Autumn of the Seraphs, the group has been put on the backburner for its primary members. Armistead Burwell Smith IV (or Zach Smith, for brevity’s sake) polished off an excellent solo debut in 2009, Systems Officer’s Underslept, a natural extension of Pinback’s intricately layered pop. He also returned to his pre-Pinback outfit, Three Mile Pilot, for their 2010 reunion album The Inevitable Past Is the Forgotten Future. I recently ran through Rob Crow’s labyrinthine discography in a write-up of Heavy Vegetable’s two full-lengths, but he’s been less frenzied of late, offering the 2008 sophomore release from his metal band Goblin Cock (Come with Me If You Want to Live) and an internet radio show. But their primary outlet is slowly waking up, starting with this Record Store Day single.

Information Retrieved, Part A is Pinback’s first release with Temporary Residence Limited since signing with the label in 2009 after the demise of Touch & Go. If you’re worried that time or the label switch has altered the group’s DNA, fear not: “Sherman” and “Thee Srum Proggitt” are immediately recognizable as Pinback concoctions. Crow and Smith trade off verses on “Sherman,” then cascade over each other on the chorus. Tightly snapping rhythms, back-masked guitar, and vocal-mimicking keyboards lay the instrumental foundations, but the song’s success comes from those exquisite vocal arrangements. “Thee Srum Proggitt” is a languid Crow-fronted song loaded with Dark Star samples (the John Carpenter film which provided the group its name), but Smith pops in for a few lines. I’ll likely stick to the a-side for future spins.

It’s unclear whether these songs will appear on the full-length Information Retrieved, which has now been pushed back to 2012. I chose to willfully ignore that possibility and grab this nicely packaged single, which comes in a sealed paper bag, offers a nice picture sleeve inside, and may be on colored vinyl (I got marbled blue). If your local store sold out, Pinback’s on tour through the middle of May (although I'm just guessing that they'll have copies with them) and Temporary Residence Limited will put a small amount of singles up for sale on May 1st.