Drunk Driving marks the debut of the duo Tempting, comprised of Faith Winkler and Zane Smith. The album scores the reignition of a friendship after years of dormancy through the process of working and experimenting with the sounds and textures of the pop music canon. The two spent the latter half of 2024 and all of 2025 working on case studies that would eventually form this first release - a sharp and precisely executed album that coalesces around their mutual belief in life’s messy and often chaotic way of function.

“Just lay some vox down and let's see where things go”. In autumn of 2024 this offer posed by Zane was the first bud of something greater, and what began as a way to mess around and just become friends again turned into the first track, Over You. Heavily influenced by the electronic duo Overmono, it seeks to answer the question, ‘how little can one use to make a track’. Though there were many other in-progress tunes tucked away on a hard drive you won’t ever see, Over You became their first successfully completed track, and marked an important moment for the duo. They knew they had something special going, now they only had to keep up the momentum.

Next came Weak, which started as a response to the burgeoning Salt Lake City club scene and rise of UK speed garage (and probably the sleekest track on the bill). Faith’s vocals shine here, on powerful choruses with super dense harmonies worthy of scrutiny, while Zane’s tight drums and airy keys provide a gorgeous contrast. It’s like the penultimate festival track but with a bit more class.

By now, the momentum was unstoppable and the next track, Odometer, was born almost in a flash. The track features sample chopping akin to Daft Punk and the ultra hot verses allow Faith and Zane to take vocal control. Odometer makes the perfect opener to the album, literally, as the opening of the garage door sets the stage for driving drunk. More strategically, it also serves as the perfect introduction to the duo, showcasing both Faith and Zane’s vocals above some killer production.

Of the four original tracks Impatient came last, fusing that yacht rock ‘hey grab a cold one’ sensibility with deceptive density. It was easily the hardest track for the two to write, with the unchanging chord progression feeling too stagnant compared to their other songs, and the duo feared it wouldn’t sound interesting. After some really, really bad demos almost led to them scrapping it all together, they found the ace that the track had been missing. Good friend of the band Desmond Whitney threw some bass down and infused the track with so much life and energy it completely shifted the tune. The momentum was back. Once things wrapped up on the track, the two dropped a four track collaborative EP under their solo names M. S. Zane and Faith Winkler, showing the world these two had something to offer. Although, as Zane left on a monthlong overseas trip and Faith returned to college, both of them thought that the EP would mark the end of their collaboration.

In their separation, however, they both realized there was much more they could be reaching for. When Zane returned a month later, the two immediately started working on a full length project, and so began the process of weaving the four previous tunes into a broader narrative. Creatively invigorated, Zane and Faith began working on more songs without delay, though they struggled to find a narrative framework for the album that truly felt right. Weeks of work and some drunk game nights later, the duo settled on the title Drunk Driving with some help from the group’s unofficial third member, Alex Killian, who would go on to serve as chief visual producer for the album photography and writer-director for the duo’s music videos. The title easily captured what Faith and Zane were subconsciously playing with during the composition of the EP months earlier and marked a clear direction for them to iterate off moving forward. Hence Truth or Dare, Sinner, Delapse, Take You There, Rear View, and the title track were all born, playing with the notion of stumbling intoxicated through love, lust, desire, fame, games, and the future (though not respectively).

More interestingly, each subsequent song showed Zane and Faith started getting more comfortable with each others’ musical sensibilities and boundaries, pushing where the two could go sonically and conceptually. This is probably best heard in the track Sinner, where the duo strips the electronics back and real drums join Faith as she belts her heart out about some pretty personal desires. The track also features guitar from Zane’s brother Max (Chex Max) and highlights a more human shift in the group’s sound, compounded by their growing trust in each other. Max is also featured on the closing track Rear View as a writer and vocalist, marking a full circle moment for the group to end the album.

Drunk Driving is more than a humble debut, it’s a thrilling announcement to the world that Tempting has arrived, and a promise that they have much to offer as they go forward.

Special thanks to Desmond Whitney, Porter Chapman, Mike and Erica Smith, and Joe Macedo.

Credits:

Tempting is Faith Winkler and Zane Smith
Executive engineered and produced by Zane Smith
Additional production by Alex Killian, Faith Winkler,
& Max Smith
Written and composed by Alex Killian, Faith Winkler,
Max Smith & Zane Smith

Guitar on track three by Max Smith
Bass on track nine by Desmond Whitney
Drums on track ten by Porter Chapman

Design by Tempting & Alex Killian
Photography and videography by Alex Killian